The Walls Fall Down
by TutorGirlml
Summary: Castle finds someone he loves more than life itself is missing, Tyson returns, words unspoken come to the surface, and the walls fall down...
1. Prologue: Vanished

Hey everyone out there in fanfiction land! It's been awhile, I know, but I'm returning with my first attempt at a multi-chaptered "Castle" story. It's intended to be suspenseful and include all of my personal favorite things about the show, two adorable pairings – one obvious but not admitted, and one admitted but seldom shown, the great father-daughter relationship between Castle and Alexis, and all the humor/mystery fun. I guess I should stop trying to explain and let you start reading. Obviously I don't own any of them, nor the show, but it sure would be fun to be a writer there for a few weeks….

I guess that's it. Enjoy, and please PLEASE let me know what you think if you have a moment when you're done reading.

_**The Walls Fall Down**_

Prologue: Vanished

Nothing suggested that this particular crisp, cool, late November morning would be any different than thousands of other before it. There were no foreboding signs, clues, or premonitions of how it would tip so many good peoples' universe off its axis and turn their worlds inside out. All that Alexis Castle noticed was a perfect late fall morning as she stepped out of the building where she shared a loft with her father and Gran. The cold air nipped her flawless, pale skin, turning her cheeks a bright apple-red. She huddled deeper into the black and white houndstooth peacoat she wore, and set off walking – well ahead of schedule, but anxious to check out a book in the school library before her first class.

It had been one of their idyllically offbeat Castle family mornings, her father making pancakes cheerfully, while she could hear Gran warbling Rodgers and Hammerstein classics in the foyer. Of course, her dad had been childishly ecstatic when the phone rang with Beckett calling him to a crime scene. He had rushed out less than fifteen minutes later, with a quick kiss on the cheek for her and the promise to "see her tonight and share all the gory details." As usual, Alexis had been left shaking her head after him lovingly and wondering which one of them was really the teenager.

It wasn't until she got several blocks down her familiarly busy street that something felt strange. At first, Alexis tried to shrug off the way the hairs on the back on her neck were suddenly standing on end. She was a practical, intelligent girl and reason told her that no one else on the street seemed concerned or at all aware of anything that could be causing her distress. Shaking her head and making her distinguishing shiny curtain of red hair fly out over her shoulders, she forced herself to keep walking and not look back.

Just as Alexis had started to think it really had been in her head, and she had begun to relax, an arm slung over her shoulders as someone came up behind her. Even though the gesture seemed – and was meant to look – companionably friendly, she stiffened, ready to cry out in fear. She looked over and saw the face attached to the arm, and her blood ran cold at the recognition of where she had seen that face before. It was then that the person steered her into the next alley where a car waited, idling quietly. Though Alexis was smart enough to know she had missed her chance to scream for help and fight him, it had all happened so fast that she was out of the eyesight of anyone who could help her before she could do anything.

She was shoved into the car none-too-gently, and the car was gone with no one the wiser. The cold November breeze whipped through the bare trees, people kept walking by, and it would seem when they frantically searched later that Alexis Castle had vanished without a trace.


	2. Chapter One: Blood Runs Cold

Hope that was an interesting enough prologue that you've come here looking for more. I love all these characters, and I don't really want any of them hurt; I promise it's all for dramatic purposes. I still don't own them, of course. Now, on with the show!

_**The Walls Fall Down**_

Chapter One: Blood Runs Cold

As it turned out, the case Rick Castle had been called to the station for was what Detective Esposito fondly referred to as a "pop-and-drop"; a routine, run-of-the-mill murder, and nothing that they really needed his perspective or theories for. That didn't stop him from fetching his "muse" Kate Beckett an espresso from the machine he had provided – despite her protests – and settling himself in his regular seat at the side of her desk and trying to help.

"So," he reiterated, making sure he had the minimal facts there were straight in his head while attempting to ignore the current that ran through him when their fingers brushed as he handed her the coffee, "the vic had been shot on the subway and rode dead in her seat to the end of the line before anyone noticed?"

Kate gave him a nod, an almost imperceptible blushing tint high in her cheeks. Most people wouldn't even notice, but Castle knew if he could occasionally fluster her, then there was still hope his affection for the detective wouldn't always be one-sided. He studied her often enough for clues or hints of attraction, that he recognized them, even when they were faint.

"Yep," Ryan echoed, coming up to Kate's desk behind him. "Apparently, the subway was especially crowded, the body was sandwiched in between other passengers the whole time until the last stop when the car cleared out and the vic finally fell over. Scared the little old lady who was next to her for fifteen blocks half to death."

"Let out a scream that had the conductor stopping the subway pretty quick," Esposito added, joining them and finishing his partner's report.

"Where are we on id-ing the vic?" Kate asked, acknowledging their summary of the events and moving on, keeping to the business at hand. Though Esposito joked about preferring the "pop-and-drops" to her weird cases, in truth a garden variety, seemingly motive-less crime was much harder to solve with no one to suspect and seemingly no motive for the crime.

"We ran the crime scene photos through VICAP for facial recognition, but no hits yet. Still a Jane Doe," Ryan confirmed what they had already figured. It seemed at first blush that their killer had managed to actually choose an anonymous victim. Unremarkable and hard to identify, made it nearly impossible to figure out why that victim had been chosen and what the killer planned to do next.

"Somebody knows her," Kate pressed, not willing to accept defeat or that someone could be so all alone in this huge, uncaring city without someone to miss her. It struck a little too close for comfort for her, or at least to her life before Castle had come along… Refusing to let her mind go there, she reiterated, "Someone has to have reported her missing, or they will soon. Check local hospitals, other precincts, you name it." Ryan and Esposito nodded solemnly, both turning to do as she asked and already pulling out their cells to start making calls.

She turned to Castle, still sitting beside her desk, watching her as if waiting for similar instruction and she couldn't help but shake her head. "What, Castle?"

"Well, what can I do? You know I'm good at this, so why don't you give me a job too?"

"I will," she said, looking at him with real honesty in her eyes over the rim of her mug of coffee, "as soon as there's something you can do. But there's not much else we can accomplish until we find out who our Jane Doe is."

He nodded, but as Kate had pretty much expected, he couldn't sit there for long without something to occupy him. Soon he was bobbing his head along to a song only he could hear and drumming his fingers on the desk like a hyperactive ten-year-old. She bit back the annoyed bark she wanted to direct at him, knowing that they were all tense from having hit a dead end on the case. He was truly like an overgrown child at times when she couldn't keep him contained, but though it could literally drive her mad, she loved it about him too. He kept things light, took the weight of her job and her past off of her shoulders for brief moments, and kept her loneliness and concerns from weighing her down as far. The child-like glee, innocence, fun-loving nature, and even unquestioning devotion to those he loved were qualities she wouldn't trade, even for peace, uninterrupted routine, and only feasible case theories again. What he brought to her life was well worth the inconvenience, even on days when she had to remind herself of it.

"Why don't you just head home for awhile, Castle?" she suggested. "We'll call when we get a lead, I promise. I know you've gotten behind on the next chapters you have due – yes, Gina's now pestering me to keep you on track as well – and you could get a start on that, spend some time with Alexis when she gets home."

"You're probably right," he said, standing and nodding to her in deference. "Alexis and I haven't had an afternoon together in quite awhile. I just don't want to miss a clue I could help with. Something about this whole thing seems too perfect; too easily done without a single trace. It sets me on edge and it makes me feel like I'm missing something."

She smiled up at him, struck by how tall he was and feeling the need to stand so they were equal height again and she wasn't so dizzy suddenly for no reason that she could understand, or that she refused to acknowledge. "There's no perfect crime, Castle," she reminded, beating back the Castle-awed butterflies in her stomach. "Something will pop, and we'll find out who's done this."

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A few hours later though as the clock edged toward five, Castle was feeling much less reassured by the remembrance of her words. In fact, not only was he anxious with discomfort, he was rapidly passing worry and nearing panic. He wasn't focused on the case or their Jane Doe anymore however, what was driving him to near distraction was that Alexis hadn't come home yet. She had told him she would be coming home right after school when they'd parted ways that morning, and she hadn't called or texted to let him know any different. If it were any other teenage girl, he would blame irresponsibility and thoughtlessness, but not Alexis. She had always been a put-together, conscientious old soul, and never given him a moment's worry over anything, to the point that he often guiltily worried that she might be trying to raise him instead of the other way around. She would never give him the near-heart attack he was having now, wondering where she was and what had happened to her, not if she had any choice in the matter. That was what continued to triple his heartbeat even as he tried to tell himself simple possibilities, like her phone going dead or getting lost.

It was no use. He had already experienced a day full of strange, confusing things that didn't make sense and had compounded in on each other one after another. Was it all connected? Did their mystery victim that no one seemed to know have anything to do with Alexis, who seemed to have vanished into thin air? All Castle knew was that he could not sit there any longer wondering and doing nothing. He picked up the phone to call Beckett.

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Esposito sauntered into the dimly lit morgue, or "Lanie's lair", as he secretly thought of it with a chuckle, hoping she had found something during her autopsy that would help them get the subway victim's case underway. He saw the petite M.E. and her sleek curtain of black hair as soon as he entered the room, and walked right up to her at her autopsy table. Not stopping until he stood right behind her, Esposito resisted the urge to wrap a muscled arm around her waist, pull her back into his arms, and to inhale the scent of her hair. He didn't know how long he had pined after Dr. Lanie Parish from a distance while pretending to be just friends and coworkers, but he had managed it so far, so he buried the desire now and pretended again, merely reaching around her to drop the carry-out bag from her favorite Thai restaurant in front of her. "Thought you might not have taken time to get yourself any dinner," he explained, knowing full well that she often got so wrapped up in her work that she tended to do just that. After a pause, he continued, "So, find anything helpful on our Jane Doe?"

"Actually, yes," Lanie said, turning to face him and only then realizing just how close he was standing. She had to suck in a steadying breath as she was nearly bowled over. Something about Javier Esposito was incredibly attractive and always had been – the power, assurance, and raw masculinity that radiated from his solid frame was impossible to miss. This close, it was all she could do not to ease forward into his arms and find out if that chest of his was as sturdy and inviting as it appeared. Quickly, she shook her head and focused back on the news, which she would really rather avoid giving him. "I've got something alright, but no one's gonna like it."

"How's that?" he replied, edging closer to the table as Lanie lifted the sheet covering their vic to show him the clues the body had yielded.

"Any of those markings look familiar to you, Detective?"

Esposito let out a low whistle, coming up short at the immediate recognition. This was _not _good, not at all. He remembered vividly chasing Beckett upstairs at the seedy motel where they had been hiding Jerry Tyson – their supposed witness – finding Castle tied to a chair, Ryan – his partner, brother – sprawled on the floor, just coming back to consciousness, all those images flashing through his head in succession. And he was the one who was going to have to go back and report this to Beckett. "Any other possibilities?" he asked Lanie almost plaintively, giving her the grown man's version of puppy-dog eyes.

"Not much," she said, unbeknownst to him having a hard time against that dark, expressive gaze, wanting to say anything to make him happy instead of what she knew she had to say. "He isn't finished with us yet," she sighed resignedly, covering the body back up with the sheet, turning towards the door, and wishing this body weren't so obviously calling them back into the ring with their nemesis, the Triple Killer. She wasn't the detective, but she would be willing to bet money that their guy had killed this seemingly random victim merely to deliver the message to them that he had something else up his sleeve. Trying to tell herself that the hows and whys weren't her job and to leave them to her best friend and the handsome man in front of her, she instead attempted to focus on the dinner he had brought her that was still in her hand, smelling wonderful. She realized that she was indeed hungry and grateful to him for thinking of her. She wanted to believe the sense she had that made it feel as though she pulled him along with her as she moved, as though they were connected by an invisible cord of magnetism, but she forced herself to acknowledge that it must be her imagination. For whatever reason, he was by her side without spoken agreement as she conceded, "Come on, I'll come with you. I need out of here for a second anyway, and Kate's not gonna like this."

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The two of them had barely entered the precinct offices and neared Ryan's desk, when the blue-eyed detective suddenly sat bolt upright, eyes glued to something on his computer monitor with what looked like horrified disbelief. His mouth was opened slightly, as if intending to call out, but no words had come. Esposito and Lanie exchanged looks, but kept heading toward him, not knowing what was going on. Ryan noticed them finally and hoarsely whispered, "Get Beckett," bleakly.

Lanie branched off to do so, seeing her best friend coming out of the Captain's office. Esposito came around the corner of the desk to stand at Ryan's elbow and see what he was seeing. It took a second to register just what he was seeing, and then, once he did, he wished that he hadn't. Knowing he must have appeared as stunned and slack-jawed as he partner had a moment before, Esposito forced himself to gather his composure again, but no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't keep looking at the sight being broadcast right before his eyes. He had to look away, just as Kate and Lanie were reaching them.

Kate took in both Ryan and Esposito's faces and looked nervously at the monitor that had caused all the fuss. Her eyes widened as all the blood suddenly drained from her face. "Please tell me that isn't…" but the words died away before she even got her whole thought voiced, sound fading in her throat as she tried to deny what was right in front of her eyes. "Get Castle on the phone! We've got to get him in here before he hears something some other way and…"

The phone at Ryan's elbow interrupted her right then, ringing loudly and urgently from her desk. She knew without even picking up that it was Castle, and she suddenly couldn't think of a single thing that she could possibly say to him.


	3. Chapter Two: Awakening Nightmare

_As always, I don't own the show or any of its characters, but I do like to play! I still hope you folks are liking this. I haven't heard much from readers this go round, hopefully you aren't hating it and you do want me to continue… I haven't written nearly as much for "Castle" as I have for "Criminal Minds", but that just seems to be where my mind is lately, so here I go…_

_**The Walls Fall Down**_

Chapter Two: Awakening Nightmare

"Beckett!" Castle's voice sounded nervous, overwrought and anxious, and Kate's brow furrowed in concern; this might be the worst notification she would ever have to make and hearing the distress he was already in plain in his voice was not making his job any easier.

"Yes, Castle, I'm here," she supplied warily, wishing all other words hadn't suddenly fled from her brain at the pictures she had seen on the computer and the way she knew she was about to devastate him. Taking in a deep breath and running a distracted hand through her hair to swipe it off her face, she forced herself to continue, "Look Castle, I need you to calm down and listen to me…"

But as usual, Castle was oblivious to any sort of direction she might try to give him, even more so when worried, apparently. "No, you don't understand, Kate! Alexis is missing! She- she didn't come home from school. She hasn't called or texted, and I can't get ahold of her. Something's wrong. She wouldn't just not call. I _know _it!"

"Castle, I know that," she tried to agree with him instead of getting him more agitated. She needed to get him into the station where she could fill him in and start trying to find Alexis, but she didn't want him so frantic over what might be happening to his cherished only daughter that he had a wreck on the way. "Just come here to the precinct and we'll talk about it once you get here, okay?" She was trying to remain calm, but his mental state seemed to be influencing hers instead. "Is Martha there?" she continued. "Maybe it'd be good if she came too…and if you let her drive."

"She's not home right now," Rick replied automatically, sounding as though he was on autopilot, but also as if he were moving around the loft, getting his keys, grabbing his coat, and locking the door behind him. If he was in motion again, she thought hopefully, she might snap him out of panic mode yet. "She went to an audition after lunch and said she would be late this evening. I'll get there on my own. Now, what aren't you telling me?"

_'Leave it to him to be as perceptive as always, the one time I need him not to be,' _ Kate thought despite herself. It wasn't that she thought Castle was weak; she knew better. He had found the stomach to handle some gruesome, disturbing, troubling, puzzling things in the time he had been shadowing her, and he had proved himself in ways she would never have imagined possible when they first met. She had come to truly look at him as a partner and knew he had proven himself invaluable on more than one case, whether or not she would admit it to him. But she also knew that his bright, beautiful daughter was his whole world – the one person in his life that he had truly, fully committed himself to and that he _could_ _not_ live without. She was honestly afraid that the footage they were all seeing on the computer right now would crush him. It hurt to think of showing it to him, and yet she knew there was no way to avoid it – right now she just needed him to get himself here in one piece and then they could go from that point. The sooner they hit the ground running on this, the better. If only Rick would know something once he got here that would give them someplace to start.

"Just find me when you get here, Castle…And…be careful." She sighed, knowing that she had given some of her concern and fear away, but needing to say the words just the same.

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Once she got off the phone with Castle, she turned to the rest of her team, all strength and determination again. "Okay guys, time to kick it in gear. Castle's gonna be freaked and wondering what we've already done to find Alexis when he gets here. Lanie, you're sure that's Jerry's handiwork on our subway vic?"

Lanie's mouth was set in a firm, thin line, but she gave a short, clipped nod. "Fraid so," she affirmed. "The fibers in the wounds on her neck, the particular bruising pattern, and…there was a message…for Castle." Here she hesitated, glance flickering briefly to Javier, who had seen what she was talking about, as if for affirmation – or strength – to break this to Kate.

"What?" Kate burst out, disbelief and building frustration evident on her features and in her tone.

"Well, it doesn't mesh with his signature of the other strangulations, but it _does _match with Jerry's sadistic need to torment and the fixation with Castle he seems to have developed. She drew in a long sigh before continuing. "He carved words into her torso…_ 'This one's on you, Castle' _."

Kate held her best friend's gaze for several long moments, almost as if wishing she could erase the M.E.'s last few words and change her findings. _'No such luck in real life,' _she thought fruitlessly.

"Okay, Lanie, see if you can pin down a time of death and a murder weapon from the body we've got. Ryan and Esposito, try to track down anything else you can on Jerry Tyson, people who know him, anywhere he's been sighted or anything he's been up to since we last came in contact with him. I know he's been in the wind and we've been trying to keep an ear to the ground anyway, but turn it up a notch, okay? I'm gonna wait here for Castle. Once I fill him in on everything, I'm going to walk through everywhere we think Alexis may have been and gone today, see if we can find any hints to when and where she disappeared from and where she might be now."

They all nodded, agreeing with her instructions and took off to do their jobs, leaving her to wonder worriedly how exactly she was going to handle Castle and keep it together for his sake.

She didn't have to wait long. Beckett saw him as soon as he stepped out of the elevator a few minutes later and headed her way. The metrosexual, polished, cavalier look that Castle usually had going for him was rapidly unraveling. Tufts of his honey-colored hair were standing on end from his wracking his hands through it, his shirt was half-untucked under his jacket, and his eyes were darting around the bullpen rapidly as if someone there were hiding Alexis from him.

"What is it?" he asked as soon as he reached her, reading the emotions she tried to keep from her eyes much better than anyone else she had ever met. "What's happened? Do you know something about Alexis?"

She stood to face him, pausing there holding his gaze, trying to gauge just how unhinged he already was, as if he could handle the rest of what they knew. They needed to get the explanations out of the way as fast as possible and get moving. There was no way of knowing, as of right now, just how long Alexis had already been missing. "Okay, we think we know what's happened to Alexis. But you _have _to try to keep it together. You can't fly off the handle and run out half-cocked like your fictional Derek Storm. Understand?" And here she played her full hand, leveling with him. "None of that is going to help her."

Kate could see Castle take a deep breath, square himself, and physically force a calm and control that he definitely did not feel. He returned her steely look of determination and forced himself to ask the question that immediately turned his roiling stomach even more sour with worry. "It wasn't – it isn't – not Tyson, is it?"

His voice was laced with such trepidation that it almost struck her mute, but she had to plow ahead. "I – I'm sorry, Castle. But it looks like it is. For some reason, he seems set on making you suffer. One wouldn't have to study you long to know that Alexis would be the key to hurting you." She laid what she hoped was a comforting hand on his arm and steered him toward the chair at Ryan's desk, guiding him to sit carefully.

Pulling up a chair to sit beside him, she tried to tell him all that Lanie had found in her autopsy as gently as possible. He seemed to listen to the confirmation of his worst nightmare stoicly, without much reaction at all, yet Kate knew that Rick Castle was hearing her because the eyes that usually were filled with buoyant light and sparkle darkened to an almost threatening degree, his hands clenched slightly, and she could see his jaw tightening. All small tells, but still signs of tension that Rick had almost never exhibited in all the time she had known him. "There's more," she warned, leaning towards him until she almost was whispering it in his ear. "He sent us a video.."

Rick flinched at that announcement almost as if someone had slapped him. He turned to search her eyes again, like a drowning man praying for a life raft, not even daring to ask her questions this time. "Is she…?" he tried, but then couldn't get out anymore of the question.

"She looks to be hanging in there right now, just shaken up and scared mostly, but she doesn't appear to be hurt."

He let out a breath they had neither one been aware he was holding, then managed, "Let me see."

"Castle, are you sure that you want to…"

"Yes, I need to…to know what she's going through, and to see her still alive and breathing."

"Alright then," she said, reaching across him to jiggle the mouse at Ryan's computer and bring the screen back to life from its screensaver. There was the image the rest of them had already been subjected to when Ryan found the file; Alexis sitting on a dirty, steel-frame bed, backed up against the headboard as far as she could get, knees pulled up to her chest as if trying to make herself as small and unnoticeable as possible. She wasn't yelling for help or crying or even moving at all, but the fearful, stunned, wide-eyed way she was staring straight ahead with visible tear tracks drying on her cheeks was even more disturbing. She didn't look like she had been injured, but she did look cold, alone, and afraid. Rick Castle wanted so badly to put his arms around his little girl and hold her close that he reached out fruitlessly and found nothing else to grasp but Kate's hand. Instead of pulling away, as she usually did when he was shamelessly flirting, she let him hold onto her while he needed to for comfort. He kept watching the screen, even though it killed him, drinking in the sight of her, because as long as he could still see her, she wasn't past return. Her thin, pale wrist was handcuffed to the headboard, he realized, picking up more details as the initial shock wore off, whether he wanted to or not. Her ankles were bound together with zip cords as well. Suddenly, in the scene onscreen, in the room with Alexis, there was a sound. She looked up, the camera panned around, and then a startled Castle and Beckett were face-to-face with Jerry, their Triple Killer. His ominous smile turned Castle's stomach inside-out, and the author squirmed thinking of his baby being alone in a room with this maniac. "I warned you, Rick. Everything that happens from here on out is on your head. You messed up, and I got away. Now I hope you can live with the consequences."

Tyson's evil grin spread across his face again, but the smile vanished when Alexis cried out from behind him,"Dad, are you there? If you're hearing this, don't listen to him. It isn't your fault!"

Jerry spat out menacingly, "Shut up! I told you not to make a sound!" The camera whirled as he swung around towards his captive. "You're going to help me teach your father a lesson." He struck out at Alexis, connecting with her cheek, and she yelped in pain and then went silent. Kate hissed in sympathetic pain and cringed despite herself and all her training, but Castle was eerily silent.

The screen went black and his head bowed to hide in his hand. It looked as though a tremor went through went through him which Kate studiously tried to ignore, before reaching out to clasp his shoulder. "We _are _going to get her back, Castle. I promise you. Come on, let's go track Alexis' route to school, see if we can figure out where he got her, find anyone who might have seen something."

Finally, he looked up at her, plaintively begging for her reassurance. The look in his eyes was so bleak she could hardly recognize the Rick Castle she knew in his face. His voice was barely a whisper when he finally asked her, "This is all my fault, isn't it?"


	4. Chapter Three: In The Dungeon

_(Hey, to those loyal few that are giving this a chance, sorry I've been gone for longer than the one week goal I gave myself to go between updates – grading final exams and research essays for my seniors has taken every spare minute! I'm back with chapter three though, hoping to make amends. __ If you've been reading and reviewing this, THANK YOU so much, and if you're new with this chapter, let me know what you think if you have a second. Feedback is so helpful and appreciated. I don't own "Castle" or any of the characters, and sadly they only do what I want in fan fiction land._

_And now, Chapter Three…_

**The Walls Fall Down**

**Chapter Three: In the Dungeon**

Alexis Castle was lost to the world for a few blissful seconds. Not that her abductor striking her had actually knocked her unconscious, but it had certainly stunned her and sent her head reeling. For just a moment, she had an odd remembrance of the fairy stories and romantic adventure tales her dad had told her when she was a kid, of fair damsels in distress kidnapped by evil villains and imprisoned in fearful towers and dungeons with no hope of rescue but by a brave, handsome prince. As she had gotten older, she had found it sweetly humorous that their last name was Castle; it gave her an echo of those innocent, magical childhood days. Her dad was a sort of rich king of his field, and anyone could see that he treated her as his very own cherished princess. But this was real-life, not some made-up fairytale, and Alexis was smart enough to know that she was in deep peril. Not the kind of nightmare that you could simply wake up from and forget, or that her dad could change or stop telling when it got too scary. This was the type of nightmare that came creeping and crawling into your waking hours and under your skin and didn't stop just because you opened your eyes – it was really happening. She was in the den of a real-life monster, and whether anyone could find her in this dungeon she had been trapped in was something she just didn't know yet.

She knew her dad must be frantic, and from what her captor had said, blaming himself. The way she sometimes almost parented him kicked into gear with her concern, and she wished that she could be there to reason with him.

At least he had Detective Beckett. She was good at calming him down, making him see sense. Alexis knew that they would be looking for her, that Beckett, Ryan, Esposito, Lanie, and Captain Montgomery – all her dad's new friends at the 12th – would all be helping her dad. If any group of people could find her, they would. She needed to think if there was some way she could help them.

Gingerly, she reached up to touch the side of her face where Jerry Tyson had struck her, trying to assess how much damage had been done. She still felt a bit dazed and disconnected from the rest of her body, as if her hand was feeling along someone else's jaw, but she resolutely tried to keep feeling for any difference, or if anything seemed broken. She would willingly admit that she had been a somewhat coddled child, knowing that her father had never struck her or raised his hand to her with even the discipline of a spanking, much less in sheer anger. Where some kids would have been spoiled by such a lenient, easygoing upbringing, it had only made Alexis more secure and confident that she was loved and treasured; she had naturally given herself structure when her father didn't, without even having to be told. This sudden showing of violence from the man who had taken her added a completely new layer of fear to what she had already been experiencing, simply because it was so foreign from anything she had ever experienced.

At least after striking her, her own personal monster had seen that she had fallen silent – as he had wanted – and stormed out of the room, leaving her alone in silence again. She tried to scan her surroundings, but there were no furnishings other than the bed she was chained to, no windows to let in sunlight or any hint of where she was. There was nothing else to see other than the door on the wall facing her, looking like a constant threat of his return looming before her. All she could say for certain was that she knew they were still in Manhattan – he hadn't driven with her long enough for them to have left the city – and that she was now in the basement of what looked to be some sort of abandoned house or factory building.

She was cold, but she realized it only as tremors started shaking her slight frame. She had much larger concerns than being a little chilly. Yet, as she now realized, that might be more than simple discomfort. She didn't want to go into some kind of stupor from shock. Alexis Castle, daughter of the famous mystery author Richard Castle, Master of the Macabre, was _not _going down without a fight. She was not going to prove to be some sheltering shrinking violet that withered at the first real trial of danger to affect her life. She was going to stay alert, find some way to tip off and help her rescuers, and make her father – and his intrepid muse – proud. She _would _get through this, and they would come for her. She just couldn't give up hope.


	5. Chapter Four: Holding Out Hope

_(Since it was a long wait between the last two chapters, I'm attempting to make you wait less time with this go-round! I truly hope you enjoy the chapter and let me know what you think! The responses keep me plugging away, especially working on my first chapter fic in a new fandom! Thanks again. And, as always, I don't own the show or any of the characters – as much as I wish Javier Esposito were mine ;)_

The Walls Fall Down

Chapter Four: Holding Out Hope

For a second, Detective Kate Beckett hardly dared to breathe or speak, or even chance a look at Rick Castle next to her, for fear any movement might break the stunned spell that had fallen around them, and cause him to shatter. He had been remarkably composed, considering the circumstances – more so than she had expected from him – until Tyson had actually struck Alexis. Kate had been prepared for an explosion then – one of epic proportions – but this silent, grieving Castle; one with his head buried in his hands, accepting blame and seeming to admit defeat, was not at all what she had been prepared for. Castle was a "never say die" type, like a bulldog in his stubborn tenacity, rivaling even she herself, which was a difficult feat, to say the least. That he wasn't up pacing, railing against this monster, or trying to drag her out of the station and all over the city until they found him showed just how devastated he was.

Kate knew that Richard Castle certainly had to be misjudged pretty often. She had done it herself when they had first met. He came off like this irresponsible millionaire playboy man-child and didn't really do much to discourage that illusion. In reality, however, despite appearances, the Rick Castle she had gotten to know was smart, daring, brave, eager to help, and more selfless than she would have thought possible. She had not known he had it in him to chase down a suspect, invaluably aid in an interrogation, or dive in front of a bullet, but she had seen him do all of those things – and more – for her. When something, or someone, was truly important to him, all the bluster and mischief and joking faded to true care and concern. He had shown it for her, Martha, Esposito, Ryan, Lanie, and Captain Montgomery, over and over, but none of them even began to hold a candle to Alexis. He played at being simply a doting, spoiling father, but he would move heaven and earth to keep Alexis safe and happy, do anything in the world to keep his daughter from being hurt, and free from harm. The thought of his baby, his only child, in the clutches of a sadistic serial killer was as effective as physically torturing Castle himself. It made Kate hate this psycho even more than she already had – and vow that she would be the one to bring him down and make him pay for her partner's anguish – a much more personal and vengeful oath than she usually allowed herself in her line of work.

"Come on, Castle," was all she finally said, gripping at his elbow to pull him to his feet. She wanted to pull him into a hug, if only to help him feel comforted for a moment, but she knew it wouldn't help, and she wasn't sure he would even feel her touch, as shocked and withdrawn into himself as he seemed right now. "Let's hit the streets. If we find were she was taken, maybe there will be some sort of clue to where she is now." He gave a short nod, but didn't move until she put a hand on his shoulder and steered him into forward motion.

"We're going to catch up to him, aren't we?" he asked her, eyes searching hers as if not sure if he wanted hope, or honesty, from her answer.

"Yes, Castle, we're gonna get him," she affirmed, hoping with all that was in her that she was giving him both, "and we'll get Alexis back to you…She's going to be okay."

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It didn't take them long to reach the street the Castles' loft was on, and that Castle knew Alexis always took as her route to school. Neither of them knew if there was a chance to find any traces or clues, but they were not going to give up without trying. Tyson was good, but human, and he would slip up eventually – if only they could get lucky and have this be the time he made his mistake.

They started right from the front doors of the Castles' building, where Alexis would have started out from that morning, headed down the street toward her school. Nothing looked disturbed or out of the ordinary, just a sea of people streaming back and forth on their own errands, engrossed in their own lives. Castle found himself wanting to grab them by the shoulders and shake them until he had their attention. His daughter had been kidnapped and no one had noticed a thing!

Kate could see the tension in him and was beginning to feel he might really blow up, when suddenly she noticed something interesting lying on the pavement, just before the mouth of a wide alley opened up to their left. It was just barely sticking out from under the corner of a street vendor's fruit stand. Jerry had never left any clue of his victims or where he had taken them behind before, but if this had been knocked out of sight in the scuffle, then maybe they finally had their break. She knelt to see just what she had found, picking up the item that had caught her eye and studying it more carefully. She then sucked in a sharp breath, absolutely sure that the item she held in her hand belonged to Alexis. It was a turquoise I-pod, with jeweled stickers in the shape of a small castle, on the bottom corner of the slim casing, very fitting for Castle's darling daughter, and it made her smile even as her mind then flew to the frightening circumstances that would have led the electronic device to be lost in the street in the first place. Trying to keep those visions in her mind's eye from Castle, she turned, holding out the I-pod for him to see if he recognized it.

Castle took the small player from her, still disturbingly silent, and held it tightly in his hand. Kate hadn't realized how very used to his constant comments and exclamations she had become until now, when he suddenly wasn't making them anymore. He gave her a simple, cut nod that was enough to tell her the item was indeed his daughter's, but he still did not offer to speak. His eyes looked torturously haunted, and she couldn't bear to think of the expression they would permanently take on if Alexis didn't come back to him whole and well.

Beckoning for her writer-partner to follow, Beckett turned down the alley they stood at the mouth of, carefully examining the ground before she stepped, not sure exactly what she hoped to find on cement, but trying nonetheless. However, a few feet in, where a car could have sat idling, lying in wait, there was a puddle of some sort of motor oil. As quick as that, she called CSU. There might be nothing they could learn from it, but she would give her experts the chance to find all that they could. It was a small clue, but she would lay money on this being where Alexis had been grabbed, and she'd take any sort of hint they could get.

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Javier Esposito's voice was incredibly tense on the phone when he checked in with Lanie from the squad car where he and Ryan were attempting to track down nonexistent leads. Where his voice was normally warm, mellow, and inviting in her ears, it was short, clipped, and allowing for more of his accent to show – which she often noticed happening when something got under his skin, or when his emotions became more volatile. She wished that she had good news to give him, especially knowing that Kate had sent he and Ryan on a fruitless errand hunting traces of a ghost, but everything she found only made things look worse.

"Esposito, stop pestering me!" she bit out, not meaning to sound as sharp as she did, but angry and frustrated that this sick freak had Castle's daughter and she wasn't finding any way to help. She was used to providing results and it drove her crazy to have nothing they could use to close in on Tyson. She knew that the agitated detective must feel the same way, but his constant checking in was only reminding her of the things she didn't want to say about the victim on her table, and what might be happening to Alexis, and how completely useless she was starting to feel. In her mind, she could practically see his dark, powerful hands clenching and unclenching tensely on the steering wheel, and that action rippling up his muscled arms partly showing beneath his rolled-up shirtsleeves. It made her catch her breath with desire, then breathe out a tired apology. "Sorry," she said, voice barely above a whisper, "I'm just frustrated with myself. I want to get this sicko, and I'm taking my anger out on you."

"De nada, chica," his voice came over the phone line with a light, forgiving chuckle, sounding more like itself again for just a moment. If she could have seen Kevin Ryan in the seat beside him, she would have laughed at his curious, confused look at his partner, wondering at Esposito's tender tone and use of his native tongue, but Lanie couldn't see, and she was too taken anyway by the thought that perhaps the Spanish slipped out in endearments, and in more passionate situations as well as when he was angry or upset. She tried not to let her imagination go there, but it was like attempting to rein in a runaway train.

It was only when Esposito's voice broke back into her consciousness that she managed to break free from the mental slideshow making her flushed even in the cold, deserted morgue. "I just hope Castle doesn't do something stupid. Much as I like the guy, he can be a loose cannon…and he isn't taking this well."

Lanie sighed, closing her eyes for a second, trying to focus and draw in some strength and calm do send his way. "Put yourself in his shoes, Javier. She's his only child – his baby. You know you would be the very same way."

He sighed as well, his voice low and dangerous when he did respond. "You're right, Lane. We both know it. There'd be no hope for 'em if he took someone I loved as much as Castle loves Alexis…"

Lanie felt a shiver run through her, almost instinctively sensing that he meant to refer to her with those words of warning. Or was that just her hopeful imagination? "There won't be any help for this guy once any of us gets to him," she agreed, meaning it with every ounce of her determination and drive. Castle was one of them by now, and they always had each other's backs. "You guys _will _get him. And we'll make sure he pays."

Lanie could almost hear him let out a pent-up breath that he must have been holding in for quite a while. His voice was like a soft caress when he spoke again before hanging up. "Thanks, Lanie. I needed to hear that."

She hung up too, smiling despite the situation that they were still locked in. She would find something to help them, and if she could keep Esposito's spirits afloat, even for just a few moments, then she was not working in vain.


	6. Chapter Five: One Step Forward?

_(Sorry it's been awhile again folks; I haven't had as much access to the internet as I did! Also, didn't mean to fake you out with the updates on that weren't really new chapters. I just finally managed to get section breaks into the previously posted chapters that would actually show up. Hopefully, if you go back to the first few chapters now, you can see where I meant for there to be breaks, and they will make more sense. I'll not keep you waiting any longer…As always, I don't own them, and I'd love to hear what you think!)_

**The Walls Fall Down**

**Chapter Five: One Step Forward**

Castle sighed as he turned the key in the lock and entered his own loft apartment reluctantly. He hadn't wanted to leave the precinct and step away from the search for Alexis for even a moment, but Beckett had insisted, and finally thrown in the deciding statement that he was actually making it more difficult instead of helping until they had some new information to go on. That had done it, and he had promised to at least go home, shower and change, and to break the news to his mother.

That last bit was not something he was looking forward to. For all her frivolity, jolly nature, and flirtatious enthusiasm, Rick Castle knew that under her skin Martha Rodgers cared deeply for the few that she let really know her. It was a highly select group, not including many more than he and Alexis. He also knew how she truly adored and doted upon her one and only granddaughter. She might put it off and simple playful spoiling and bragging, but she was truly proud of Alexis and considered her a friend and companion in this stage of her life. He hated to think that he might have news that would actually crush the Rodgers spirit in a way that not much could. Yet he couldn't leave her in the dark either…

As soon as he stepped into the entryway, he heard the sound of hands plunking down in surprise on the keyboard of the piano in the living room. "Richard, where have you been? Were you at the precinct this late? Did Detective Beckett get a bad one this time?" She stood and came towards him gracefully in a dressing gown that came down all the way to her feet and ended with a feathered edge along the bottom, like something out of an old black-and-white movie.

"Mother, why don't you have a seat?" he started gently, laying a hand on her arm and steering her towards the couch, where he sunk down to face her.

She obeyed his urging, but didn't stop talking for a second, "And just where is Alexis? It isn't like her to be so late, unless you've talked to her and know what's going on that is…"

"That's just it, Mother," he tried again, drawing in a deep breath and wishing he didn't have to say this to her at all. "I don't know where Alexis is….I haven't heard from her…In a way, she _is _the case."

"Richard, what are you talking about? Do you mean to tell me that – that someone has _taken _Alexis?"

He ran a hand through his already much disheveled hair and sighed again, feeling like every time he repeated the horrible news, it got harder and harder to choke out. "Yes, I'm afraid so. It was Jerry Tyson. He did it to get to me. And we're at a dead end right now. Until he makes a mistake or gives us another clue." He hung his head, almost as though he was a young child again, waiting for a reprimand that he felt he fully deserved. "I'm so sorry…She's my little girl….This is all my fault."

For just a moment, Martha didn't say anything. He almost wondered if she agreed with that last sentiment and was getting ready to lay into him in highly dramatic fashion. Then, he felt her cool, gentle, mother's hand brush through his hair, smoothing it back out and taming it again, stroking soothingly as she hadn't done in years, since he was a very young man. "Richard, darling, this _is not _your fault. Are you the psychopath who felt they needed to kidnap an innocent young girl in order to torture someone else? No, you certainly are not! So stop blaming yourself and start using that brilliant mind of yours to figure out how you can help our lovely Alexis and get her back! I'm sure Kate needs you to get back there in a better frame of mind and brainstorm the next move with her. So do it! Don't wallow; it's unbecoming and it won't help anything! Have a shower, change, and then go get your little girl back! I'll man the phones and try to check in with Ashley, or anyone else who might have seen her since we did. Maybe that will help with a timeframe for your search."

Castle leaned into his mother's comfort for just a moment, surprised at the amount of real sense she made and gathering his strength to do as she said. "You're absolutely right, Mother," he responded as he straightened and stood again. "That's exactly what I'm going to do."

"Of course, Darling, I'm quite brilliant when I must be, you know," she gave him a smile that she almost managed to hide the fear in her eyes behind, and then a swat on the rump to hurry him along. "Now move it along, and bring her back to us…."

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As it turned out, the Crime Scene Unit techs thought Beckett had found something with the puddle in the alley. And by the time that Castle had returned from his apartment, they had been able to narrow down the trace of liquid to give them a solid lead – even if it wasn't much to go on.

For whatever reason, and it seemed an oddly stupid slip for someone who had been so carefully flawless for their whole criminal career, Tyson had put an especially expensive, high-performance, rare motor oil in the car he had used to snatch Alexis and transport her from the crime scene. It was almost enough to make them fear it was a purposeful ruse, but with no other leads to track, they weren't going to fail to follow it up. Still, Kate felt the desperate need to warn Castle not to get his hopes up, even as hers went soaring beyond her control. If this could just be over, and Castle could have his girl back without her being hurt any further… She knew it was asking for a miracle, and yet she couldn't help holding out hope.

"So, how many places in the city sell this stuff?" Castle was asking the tech who had brought them his results.

"Four," the man answered, "and if the store is selling legally, the buyer would have had to present ID to prove their age and give a reason for their vehicle needing this oil in order to let them buy, due to some of the ingredients."

"It's that rare?" Beckett asked disbelievingly, eyes going from the tech to Castle. "Why would he use it then, if it's that easily traceable?"

"You think he's just teasing us?" Castle asked her dejectedly.

"I hate to admit it, but that's a very real possibility," she nodded solemnly, hating to see that spark that had come back to his eyes with the lead flicker out again. "We're going to find out though. No matter how good the bad guys are, they always mess up sometime. This may be Jerry's time."

Castle nodded, hoping – praying – she was right. He didn't know what had already happened to his precious, darling baby girl; his Alexis whom he remembered smushing her first birthday cake in chubby little hands and onto his face, whom he remembered writing a five-line poem and giving it to him with a smile so proud it had shot unexpected tears into his eyes. She was the young lady who edited his manuscripts perfectly and was his unparalleled best friend. They could not follow any lead fast enough; every second more that she was gone was a second too long.

"Come one," Beckett urged him, steering him back out of the lab and to their car, thanking the young tech who had answered their questions over her shoulder. "Let's go let Ryan run his computer magic. If Jerry's made the mistake of leaving us a bread crumb, we'll be on his trail in no time."

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Forty-five minutes later, they were leaning over Ryan's shoulder eagerly to see what he had beckoned them over to look at. As it happened, their custom motor oil lead had gotten a hit. Jerry Tyson had indeed purchased it; where and when were now displayed right there before their eyes on the screen.

Esposito walked up just then, took in what was going on, scanned the information up on his partner's computer monitor, and offered, "It's a long shot, but there are two or three old, abandoned houses and a filling station out in that neighborhood," he said, pointing towards the store's location where Jerry's purchase had been made. "They're set off from this garage and anything else populated. He might feel safe hiding out there…even with…a hostage." He hesitated on the last few words, voice going much softer, and eyes not meeting Castle's at referring to Alexis as a hostage. "But we could get a team out there, make sure…"

"Don't get too excited, Castle. Chances are, he's done this on purpose," Kate warned seriously, "to torment you and to keep us busy on a wild goose chase while he's holding Alexis safely somewhere else. However, he's been successful for so long that he is extremely confident. We'll go out there…" her eyes narrowed, "and see if maybe – just maybe – this time he's gone a step too far."

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There were no light or sirens blaring as Beckett and Castle in one SUV, Ryan and Esposito in another, and several unmarked squad cars behind them, barreled up the drive to the last abandoned house on their list a mere twenty minutes later. They hadn't wasted a moment, and they weren't running the risk of spooking Tyson if he was still there. The cars were parked swiftly, blocking the escape route back down the drive if he tried to run, and the officers were on the ground, swarming like fast, silent ants to surround the structure and its front and back entrances.

Beckett hadn't been willing to allow Castle to come in with her at the head of one phalanx of officers, nor with Ryan and Esposito at the other. Though the writer was getting better at heeding caution and following her orders, this concerned Alexis – which immediately made him too much of a loose cannon. She couldn't trust what he would do to anyone that they found in there, nor that he would watch out for his own safety. More than that, though she would never have admitted it out loud, was that Beckett didn't know what they would find in there. If it was bad, and they were too late to save Alexis, she did not want Castle busting in on the fresh scene. She couldn't bear to actually see his spirit broken right before her eyes.

When they reached the rusted, windowless back entrance door, Beckett was ready to kick it in, she had so much restless energy, fear, and anger running through her, but – on impulse – she tried the handle first, and the door swung open easily. Instantly on alert, she shot a practiced look at the SWAT officers behind her, warning them that this could be a trap. Sweeping in with gun raised, every muscle tensed and senses on alert, they moved down the empty, echoing hallway quickly, clearing each deserted room they passed.

Finally, at the last room on the hall, they met up with Esposito, Ryan, and the team they had led as they came to the end of their adjoining path. Sighing, Kate went to check the last room, knowing it would be empty as all the ones before had been. True to her expectations, there was no one there now, but the sight that met her eyes still caused her blood to run cold, despite years of seeing much worse.

In that room was a single piece of furniture, a bed with a thin, rumpled sheet and a pair of handcuffs locked to the metal frame. It was obviously the same room and the same bed Alexis had been chained to in the video they had received. The worst part though, and what was causing her heart to take up residence in her stomach and had Ryan and Esposito both releasing angry exclamations behind her, was the envelope sitting there on the bed bearing the name _'Rick Castle' _and a single fingerprint, both looking suspiciously as if they had been written in blood…


	7. Chapter Six: So Sweet and Pure

_(Here we are again, and I'm ready to give you Chapter Six. Thanks for your patience as I try to take the time to do this right. Also, to those who are faithfully reviewing, you're really making this story happen and keeping me encouraged. If you're just following along, join in with a short comment and let me know what you're thinking. I still don't own them; I'm just making my own little storyline for our beloved heroes!)_

**The Walls Fall Down**

Chapter Six: So Sweet and Pure

They had to wait for the Crime Scene Unit to go over the area for any prints or trace that Tyson might have left behind, but neither Beckett nor her guys held much hope of his leaving anything helpful. He was too good for that, he had been ahead of them this whole time, and he obviously had a whole plan in mind for how he intended to play out this sick game of his.

Finally having pity on how long they had left Castle waiting outside without word, Kate went out to get him and prepare him before she brought him back to the scene with her. As she had fully expected, he wanted to rip something apart in sheer frustration that the criminal was using Alexis to torture him, that Tyson had dared to hurt his child again, and that they were once again no closer to catching him than they had been before. He seemed to immediately come to the same realization she had – that the blood on the envelope was almost surely Alexis's.

However, it only got worse, and Beckett wanted to kick herself into next Thursday for letting him see it before she had looked it over first, when they were finally able to handle the envelope and open it to fearfully read the note inside. The author's eyes scanned it quickly, and he stumbled backwards to lean against the doorframe before he handed the paper off to her without meeting her eyes. She felt sick even without reading the words that swam in front of her…

_Oh Richard, _

_Did you really think that I would be stupid enough to give myself away so easily?_

_How did you like that tidbit of false hope? You have barely begun to be as sorry as I will make you before I'm through. You ruined a cover that has lasted me my whole career, and then made the mistake of letting me get away. This is only a thimbleful of your darling child's blood, but I cannot help the thrill that the smell of it gives me. She is so sweet and utterly pure. It will be refreshing to bathe my hands in it when it comes time to finish her. _

_It isn't time yet though. You still need to suffer. Just as you failed to stop me when we last met face to face, you will fail to save your daughter now. When you find her and see my handiwork, you will see that I have won, once and for all._

It wasn't signed, but it didn't matter. Jerry Tyson, their 3XK serial killer, had always left his signature in his brutality and the pain he caused, not through his actual name. Kate Beckett flashed back painfully to that night months ago, when she had found Ryan unconscious on that motel floor and Castle tied to a chair, but both of them alive and mostly unharmed. She remembered the guilt and sorrow in Castle's eyes when she had asked him why he thought Tyson would have left him alive and he had answered that it was to make him suffer. She had known that Tyson would kill again when they failed to stop him, but she had never foreseen this. They were all rattled and completely without leads or a trail to follow again. Was it really going to be a blameless teenager that had to pay the price?

Castle was again deathly, eerily silent – as he had been almost all day – but now he seemed lost behind a dense fog; as if he were past where she or any of the rest of them could reach. His strong-lined face was as pale and drawn as if it had been carved from stone and could no longer move to smile, laugh, or reflect any of the emotions he had brought so easily into all the time that she had known him.

Finally, he glanced at her, and with a seemingly gargantuan effort of will, forced himself to hand the note back to her before ripping it into shreds. "How do we get ahold of this monster?" Castle hissed, his voice low and lethal when he finally spoke out loud. "He sent us that video; can't we contact him in reverse?"

"Castle, I…" she almost choked on her own words, trying to explain that she didn't think it would be a good idea, that she understood how he felt but all they could do was wait Tyson out. Yet her words stuck in her throat in the face of what seemed to be his overwhelming murderous rage and desire for vengeance. Clearly, she could see all of that about to spill over on whoever was near him since he couldn't get to Tyson. It was a mood and mindset she had never experienced from him – nor ever thought that she would. If she had been asked before this, Kate Beckett would not have even thought that Rick Castle possessed the depth of anger and hatred she saw in his eyes now. She could certainly empathize though, even as it killed her to see his generally caring, optimistic aspect so suddenly and completely darkened. She knew that if she ever had a name and a face to put on the brutal murderer who had taken her mother from her, changed the way she looked at the world, and set her on the altered course her life had taken since then, she would look much the way Castle did now – if not even more unhinged and threatening.

"What?" he spat at her, hearing the hesitation and caution in her voice and letting his frustration bubble out at her. "Don't tell me there's nothing we can do! I can't just sit here and wait; we've got to draw him out! He's playing this sick charade of his with _my child_!"

"I know that, Castle!" she answered back sharply, wincing even as she did, knowing she had to keep her cool because he was literally on the edge. Forcing herself to take a deep breath and a step back, she swiped her fringe of reddish-brown bangs out of her eyes haphazardly and tried again. "We don't want to push him too far, Castle. He's holding all the cards, and I _will not _get Alexis hurt because we were impatient."

Castle's eyes fell from hers, not able to challenge her logic and experience, even though she could tell he wanted to argue. Instead, he threw up his hands, let out an exasperated 'Fine!' and stalked away from her towards the door, and beyond that to their SUV.

Letting out a frustrated breath of air, her dark, attentive eyes simply watched him go, realizing she could have handled their exchange better, but also angry at him for letting himself think she had anything other than Alexis's best interest and her rescue as soon as possible at heart. He might be in panicked, helpless Papa Bear mode, but he should still know that his partner cared about his daughter, and wanted to get her back almost as desperately as he himself did. The ride back to the precinct was stonily silent, and once they had arrived, Castle got out, stalked in, and ensconced himself in the empty break room without another word to her or anyone else.

Later, Kate was still moodily staring at the case board, helplessly short on ideas, and had just decided that she had better go and try to talk to him and smooth things over, when Ryan and Esposito came up to her elbow, looking anxious as if they had news to deliver. "Please let this be a break," she said to them, her voice a tone that sounded more pleading than they were used to, and if she had been in any kind of mood for it, she would have found it comical the way they both raised their eyebrows quizzically in an almost identical manner. Normally her two equally devoted fellow detectives could as least alter her mood or make her crack a smile with their wisecracks, sarcastic comments, or oddball asides. Right now, however, she couldn't find it in her to even smirk or comment. She was becoming more and more surely afraid that if they didn't make some progress soon, Rick was going to lose it.

Though she didn't really blame him, Kate cold only relate to what he was feeling through her secret care for him. There was no way she could even pretend to imagine what it would be like to have a child – a part of herself that she loved more than life herself – be in danger and know that there was nothing she could do for them, yet also feel like that child's being in danger in the first place was her fault. The closest she could come to understanding would be to imagine if Rick had ever been hurt or taken hostage while he was shadowing her. She would have felt guilt and personal responsibility for him, even though he certainly was no child her mind amended as a corresponding flush spread up her cheeks.

Shaking her head, she turned to Ryan and Esposito, focusing back in on them and praying with all that was in her that their news would be helpful – would be something that they could use.

But Esposito was already shaking his head, using that big brotherly manner he often had with her to rein her in, indicating it wasn't something to get that excited about, even as he let Ryan begin to do the talking.

"This doesn't tell us where his is," Ryan cautioned right off. "All we have for you is that the blood on the note really is Alexis's and that it isn't nearly enough to be fatal – or even from a serious wound. Even though he probably has her really scared, it wasn't a permanently damaging injury and she was indeed there in that house, not that long before we arrived."

"He was just taunting us, then?" she replied, blowing out a harsh breath, even as she had to admit to herself that that had been the probably conclusion all along. "So I'm just supposed to go tell Castle that, and that we've hit a dead end again, huh?"

"Not a pleasant task, I'll admit," the sandy-haired detective agreed, glancing in the direction of the break room that Castle had yet to emerge from. "But surely he'll want to know that the amount of blood found couldn't have been from a serous injury – and that we aren't that far behind him. Isn't that something, at least?"

Kate shook her head again, "I really don't know anymore, Ryan. I just know we seem to be coming up empty, and where he normally would have helped me think of a new angle by now, he's angry with me for not doing more, drawing away from me, and I think starting to doubt that we're going to get her back at all."

Esposito rested a large hand on her shoulder, waiting until she met his eyes instead of gazing forlornly at the doorway Castle had disappeared through, "We had to know that there was no way he'd handle this well. I know you want to make this right for him…we all do. We're just gonna have to do it for him this time; show him how we NYPD detectives solved cases before he came along and became the writer in residence."

She gave a short nod and a small, brief smile to the both of them. "You guys are right," she affirmed, standing again and squaring her shoulders. "We _are _going to figure out Tyson's game plan, and _soon. _I think I have a new idea on where to start."


	8. Chapter Seven: Darkness Closing In

_(Hello everyone! I hope those of you that were reading this will still be willing to pick it back up. School started again, and grading quizzes and essays took over writing for pure enjoyment's sake. However, the good news is, getting caught up, the weekend, and Castle coming back seems to have set me writing again! I was going to try to pay you back for your long wait by posting two chapters at once, but the second one still needs some tweaking. Here's this one now, and the other should follow in a couple of days. I still don't own them, but boy do I love them! Enjoy!)_

**The Walls Fall Down**

_Chapter Seven: Darkness Closing In_

Though she logically knew that it couldn't have been more than a day or two, Alexis Castle felt as though she had been isolated and alone for weeks. She knew that Tyson had not fed her, only brought her water to drink, and that a person couldn't survive indefinitely without nourishment; therefore, she couldn't have been imprisoned for as long as it felt like it had been. Yet, with no windows, no sunlight, no clock, no landmarks, and no diversions to help her pass the time, seemingly nothing but bare walls to stare at for stimulation and entertainment, her frazzled, terrified emotions were starting to overwhelm her rational mind and convince her that she was all that was left and the rest of her world had disappeared.

The cut on her arm twinged slightly, but though it stung and she wished this man holding her captive could have at least allowed her to clean it and bandage it up, she knew it wasn't deep and would soon heal if she didn't disturb or strain it, re-opening the cut and starting the bleeding again. Alexis instead tried to distract herself by being glad that he had not put the handcuffs back on her after moving her from the first place that she'd been held. Her small wrists were still sore and bore dark, purpled bruises from before, but she was willing to be grateful for even the smallest of blessings. Of course, she also guessed that he felt this second location was even more secure, if he was willing to leave her free to move around.

Still, there must be something she could do – some clue she could gather to pass along to her dad and the detectives if she was given even a second's chance. For what felt like the fiftieth time, she began to pace around the small, drab room, feeling that there must be something she had missed. She felt that this was probably the basement of a home or apartment, instead of an empty warehouse, like the first prison had seemed to her. There was a dark walk-in closet, but the light wouldn't come on inside, and by walking in and thoroughly feeling around, she could tell it was bare and empty. The rest of the room was much the same: a broken, three-legged table in the corner was about the only furnishing – nothing helpful or interesting there. Nothing hung on the walls. The only other thing in the room was a dirty, rather ripped-up, worse-for-the-wear mattress on the floor, where she supposed she was meant to sleep. As if she could sleep anyway. She roamed around aimlessly, looking at these same things once more, but found nothing more intriguing or helpful than she had in any of her previous laps.

Frustrated, she plopped back down at what she assumed would be the foot of the bed, if the mattress had been on a bed that is, and let out a little yelp when she felt something hard instead of mattress and springs that gave with her slight weight. Surprised, she stood again, realizing that she had been sitting at the other end of the mattress up until now, closer to the wall and as far from the door as possible for security. Curious and hopeful, she wrestled with the mattress, trying to turn that corner over enough to see what seemed to be embedded inside of its ripped stuffing.

Sure enough, she eventually managed to work a tarnished, metal picture frame out of the tattered material and padding. As she turned it over curiously, Alexis figured that it must have been hidden in the mattress a long time, so long ago now as to be forgotten there by whoever had hoped to hide it. She let the mattress corner flop back down on the bare floor and sat back down upon it before really looking down to study the picture within the frame. It was a cheep silver frame – no frills – one that could have been purchased at any Walgreens or dollar store or anywhere in between. The glass was mostly broken out from all the mistreatment the mattress had probably taken all these years, and Alexis marveled that she hadn't cut herself while trying to work the frame out of what had to have been glass-embedded stuffing all around it. Gingerly, she picked the picture out from behind the remaining shards to get a better look.

The picture was old, tattered at the edges, and creased from being handled or carried around before it was framed, but she could easily see that it was a young boy, nine or ten, with a troubled look on his face, standing close to a pretty, strawberry-blond woman who appeared to be somewhere in her mid-to-late twenties. The boy was oddly not smiling blithely at the camera, as carefree children of that age often do, but instead studying the woman, _'His mother?' _Alexis wondered. The little boy's look was intense, as if he were afraid she would brush him off, or she would simply vanish before his eyes. Something about the dark, furrowed brow and those stormy, disquieting eyes was very familiar, leaving Alexis' mind grasping at the illusory, incomplete feeling that she had seen the boy before. Logically, she knew that this was an abandoned home and that any number of people and a vast array of belongings and trash had been through here over time, but she couldn't help also wondering… Was the boy in this picture now the grown man who was her captor?

She had read enough of her dad's Derrick Storm novels to know that many people in law enforcement, such as Detective Beckett, would say that the reason Jerry Tyson fixated on pretty blondes, both brutally strangling them, and then remorsefully arranging their bodies, was because they were substitutes for the mother he both hated and loved in equal measure. Alexis also knew from her dad's research on this case that after Tyson was thrust upon the system, he had been bounced from one foster home to another haphazardly, and that some of those places hadn't been good places for an already troubled young man to land. Could this be one of the places that had made him more disturbed? Or was this one of the few places where he had been safe and comfortable, and he had brought her here to make some kind of point? Was this pretty woman with hair just a bit more blond than her own his mother? Was this the last picture a young, orphaned Jerry had had of the little bit of family he'd ever known? For one fractional second she almost understood his pain, even pitied the boy he'd been for a moment, but that feeling didn't last long.

Before she could set her keen intellect to deducing how this picture helped her, or gave her any clues to where she was, the door burst open again and Jerry re-entered, eyes blazing with anger. Alexis' head whipped around, startled, and the picture fluttered to the floor from her trembling fingers at the reappearance of her tormentor. "What do you think you're doing?" Tyson demanded harshly, striding angrily across the room and snatching up the picture from the floor. "That doesn't belong to you! Where did you even find it?"

Alexis simply looked up at him unblinkingly, without even attempting to answer him, staying resolutely calm and collected through sheer force of will. In the face of his extreme agitation, her silence seemed to send him over the edge, causing him to grab her and shake her violently as if to wrench the answer from her. "You'll talk plenty before I'm finished with you. Do you think you're smarter, better, than any of the others? You're only still alive now because I'm not through making your precious father suffer."

Alexis felt her heart pounding more furiously, and she couldn't help the sharp intake of breath that she drew in, but she still didn't make any audible response. She didn't know what he wanted her to say, didn't know any words to bring him back down to a calmer state, and simply chose not to make things worse by trying. Frankly, there was nothing she wanted to say to this monster anyway.

"Have it your way," he spat hatefully, before beginning to mutter to himself. "Just like all the others, never willing to do the smallest thing when I need them to…" He was almost distracted momentarily, and released his grip on her, allowing her to drop back onto the squalid mattress in boneless relief, while he moved away, running a hand back through his wildly tufted dark hair. Soon, Alexis could see he was dragging a chair back into the room, then bringing out that ominous-looking video camera and tripod again. Furious that he intended to make another video of her to torment her father, knowing what it had to be doing the beloved, kind, witty man who'd bandaged her scraped knees and cherished her dreams with her all her life, she vowed that she was not going to let Jerry do it this time – not without a fight.

When he came toward her a few moments later, right as he reached her and grasped her shoulder, Alexis turned her head, found vulnerable space between his thumb and forefinger, and bit down as hard as she could. As he let out a yowl of shock and pain, she sent her heel crushing into his instep, just as she remembered Beckett once instructing her to do during an impromptu self-defense lesson. She was almost surprised when her small little sneak attack seemed to work, but she didn't have time to think.

Tyson's grip loosened, and Alexis made a dash for the door he had entered through. For one tiny, heartening, thrilling second, she thought she was going to make it. She could almost taste the freedom that waited somewhere outside that door. Jerry recovered quickly though, and she was pulled up short before she could reach her goal. The hand that suddenly caught her by the hair literally jerked her backwards with enough force to make it feel that he had pulled strands out by the roots. "You're not leaving me yet, Princess," Tyson snarled in her ear, shoving her down into the chair he'd intended for her in the beginning, and wasting no time in tying her wrists to the arms and her ankles to the spindly wooden legs. "You're fast, but not quite fast enough. I'm also starting to see that you might be just as brilliant – and infuriating – as your father. Don't think you aren't going to regret that little incident. You've made things a lot worse for yourself. We're just going to let your Daddy watch…"

Alexis' stomach plummeted, and she fought off the sensation of being violently ill at his words. Tyson moved away from her, over to the camera, checking the view and then turning it on. The little flashing light blinking at her distracted Alexis for only a second, because then her eyes fell on the distinctive green and white rope holding her wrists. Her gaze flew back up to Tyson, to see more of the same rope still in his hand. She knew about the rope too, knew that it was a special type that made Detective Beckett and the rest of them sure when a victim had been one of Jerry's. As he came back around from behind the camera and stalked towards her, suddenly cool and predatory, almost pleased, Alexis realized that not only was this maniac back in control, but that this might truly be the end of her.

She had a clue for her dad and his cavalry to come rescue her, like Rapunzel from her tower, but she might never get to share it before Tyson stole her breath and caught it all on film.


	9. Chapter Eight: Finding Bread Crumbs

_(Hey guys! Here's the second chapter of the week…Maybe I'm finally on a roll now! Of course I still don't own them. Enjoy!)_

**The Walls Fall Down**

_Chapter Eight: Finding Bread Crumbs_

As all of this unfolded in the basement of a quiet apartment not all that far from them, Castle, Beckett and Esposito were frantically skimming through files of paperwork in the conference room. Ryan was still at his computer out in the bullpen, making sure they hadn't missed any of Jerry Tyson's long list of previous foster homes in their search.

Detective Kate Beckett was known as a sharp, decisive, by-the-book sort of cop, and she was good at her job because she waited for the facts to come in, checked those facts to be sure, then acted with certainty. However, she could also be intuitive when she had to be, if intuition was all she had to go on. It had already occurred to her that searching abandoned properties randomly wasn't going to get them any farther than it had already. Jerry Tyson was methodical, organized, and though he harnessed his rage enough to keep himself from making mistakes and getting caught, his rage was also his driving force. He had something to say with these killings, and this one was especially meaningful. He had something to prove with Alexis, and he would find a place to hold her that meant something as well, in order to complete the sick picture he was trying to paint. That was when his former foster homes became an obvious choice, and they were now combing through them for possibilities.

Castle was still incredibly, horribly tense, sitting almost at her elbow. He had apologized for his earlier outburst, and for taking his helpless anger and frustration out on her, but the air between them still seemed charged and icy. It was so palpable that from time to time Esposito would look up from the file in his hands to glance between the two of them oddly, as if he was unsure what to make of the tense silence, and then decide to say nothing and go back to scanning the lines before him. Kate didn't blame him for being disconcerted; it put her off balance as well. Yet, she couldn't dwell on it now; she had to focus on these miserable places that had served as homes for a disturbed young man slowly becoming a psychopath. If they didn't get to Alexis in time, Rick Castle would never be Rick Castle again – not really. He might forgive them, knowing that they had done their best, but he would never forgive himself for bringing Alexis to Tyson's attention, and he would never be the charming, silly, effortless man he had been before this. Beckett was realizing with alarming clarity that if they failed to save Alexis, she would never forgive herself for that reason alone – for that fact that it would cost her Castle's soul.

The man in question glanced up at her then, making her jump. For a second, she thought he had caught her and read her thoughts somehow, but though his eyes were hooded and shadowed, she didn't sense that they knew the dark thoughts she'd been thinking. "Why don't we just get several teams and raid all of these places one by one?" he asked desperately. "Aren't we wasting time trying to decide which one site is the best possibility?"

Kate was about to answer, noting sadly that his usual panache for unraveling the clues and detangling the riddles was stripped from him completely. She could only hope that it wasn't gone for good; she had come to adore that facet of working with him most of all. Before she could answer, however, Esposito spoke up for her, "That takes time too, Castle. Some of these places are actually pretty close together in the city. We could tip him off, and he might move her again, or we might force him to move faster than he intended and –" he swallowed hard, "do something even more drastic. Plus, a lot of these places aren't abandoned like those warehouses were. There could be innocent casualties if we don't go about this carefully."

Castle only nodded, drawing in a deep but shaky breath and accepting the detective's explanation. Kate was unaccountably relieved, and they all went back to their reading. At least, they did until Kevin Ryan broke into the room breathlessly a few minutes later. "I've got something," he announced tensely, and they all stood to follow him, almost before he had even turned to head back to his computer. "See what you think," he continued as he sat again and pulled the file up while they gathered around. "This could be the one."

Ryan seemed almost nervous suddenly, now that they were all gathered around him and, without even meaning to, practically down his neck. "You have all the records. I've been through all of his files now, and there are no more foster homes beyond those you have files for. So, instead, I started skimming through them too – like you guys are – figuring another pair of eyes couldn't hurt. That was when I noticed this one." He pointed to the file open on the computer screen to make his point clear. "It wasn't his shortest stay in a home, but it certainly wasn't his longest either. I figured you all would start off looking at one extreme or the other. Anyway, it was in this file that I noticed he had a foster sister in this particular home – a girl he grew pretty attached to. They were close for the months that Jerry stayed with her family, but that was what ended up getting him booted again. Her parents felt he was just a little _too _attached. That's why the leave date is so abrupt instead of showing a processing time like the others."

He paused to take a breath, and Esposito jumped in, "So what're you thinkin', Kev? That he was mad they ditched him so quickly and never looked back?" 

Ryan shot him a playfully exasperated look before continuing, "Well, Jav, if you would let a guy finish his thought…there's more. This foster sister was a pretty strawberry blond, bearing a strong physical resemblance to Tyson's mom and all his victims…and Alexis too. It doesn't take an official profiler to know that he must have both loved and hated her, just like his mom."

"And he would feel drawn back to that place because he never got to finish his business with her," Kate finished, cutting Ryan off in much the same way Esposito had. She was already on the move however before Ryan could give her grief for it. "Nice work, Ryan. Let's get mov-"

"Wait! What's that?" Castle interrupted suddenly, eyes still on Ryan's computer monitor. They all turned back again from the motion they had thrown themselves into, just in time to see a video much like the one Tyson had sent them before pop up in the corner of the screen.

They all seemed to visibly swallow hard and square their shoulders, as if wishing they didn't have to follow through with the action as Ryan clicked the blinking box to open the file that then filled the monitor. The picture that appeared before them froze Ryan's blood, and he couldn't even begin to think of looking at Castle for his reaction. Right before their eyes sat Alexis, in a rickety-looking chair, in what appeared to be a different, but equally empty and abandoned, room. As in the other twisted little "home movie" Tyson had sent them, she said nothing, made no sound at all, but the differences were still astounding. Alexis somehow seemed paler, weaker, and less herself than she had a mere day before. There were no more visible injuries that anyone could see; it was more that they sensed her spirit flagging, like she'd lost a battle and her strength was giving out. Their minds couldn't help but make the leap to what Tyson could have done to make that happen.

What was truly troubling though was the sight of Tyson's signature brand of braided rope on her wrists, securing her to the chair and the words he was intoning in her ear as they listened raptly in spite of themselves. "No one's coming to save you. You might as well stop fighting me and wishing for your daddy, Princess. Once we're finished here, I'm going to find them all and end them one by one. Your grandma, Ashley, and then the great Richard Castle himself." He chuckled as Alexis' closed eyes began to leak tears, despite the calm she was struggling to retain in front of her tormentor. She didn't look at him, didn't react otherwise, but the tears gave her away. Watching helplessly, even in the midst of the police station, Rick Castle lost several tears himself. Esposito looked away, clenching his fist, Ryan stared down at the surface of his desk, and Kate found herself reaching out to clutch Rick's hand bracingly, despite the presence of her two favorite fellow officers.

Just when it appeared as though things couldn't get any worse, they did. Knowing he still had a captive audience, Tyson looked right into the camera, grinning evilly as he spoke right to them. "She's a beautiful girl, Rick. But, as I'm sure you've noticed, she's just a little too dark a redhead for my taste. I'm going to fix that before I'm finished with her." Then, he methodically began to run his fingers through Alexis' hair, causing her to jump and then a visible shiver ran through her, echoed by an unconscious shiver of her own going through Kate Beckett's body as she watched. Tyson leaned down, taking a disturbing moment to sniff Alexis' hair held in his hand. Castle knew from times he'd pulled his daughter into his arms for a hug that the strands would be scented of fresh apple blossoms from her shampoo and the bright, radiance that was just simply her own, and he hated the fact that Tyson knew that now and was bound to destroy it. He couldn't take anymore and shot out of the chair, sending it skidding violently backwards until it hit Esposito's desk and toppled over.

Tyson chuckled on the screen as if he'd seen the whole thing. "Who knows, Rick? You may not even recognize her when you find her." Then suddenly, the feed cut, and screen went black.

Galvanized into action, Kate was spitting orders to head out for the location that Ryan had found, Esposito and Ryan were both on their phones, checking their guns, and moving to make things happen. Castle was the only one standing in place, chest heaving, unsure of what to do. When she's finished giving her orders, Kate glanced at him, "We're going to get her back right now, Castle. He isn't going to finish this." Her icy calm demeanor and the determination in her beautiful brown eyes stabilized him somehow, and he was finally able to draw a full breath of air down into his lungs. He nodded at her, but still couldn't bring any words forth.

It ricocheted through his mind that this could all be part of Jerry's plan, that he was leading them there to draw them into a trap. Yet, he couldn't speak it, even if it were so. He couldn't _not _go to Alexis, if they were really about to find her. Plus, he knew these detectives – knew they were the best, knew they were prepared for all possibilities, and knew they would do what they had to do to catch 3XK and get his daughter back alive. He knew Beckett was whip smart and capable and had probably already considered the possibility anyway. If she was going ahead, then she knew Tyson might have something up his sleeve and was ready for it. This monster was too good to have it be a coincidence that the video was almost connected to the file Ryan had been showing them when it appeared.

Tyson had been toying with them, like a cat with a mouse, all this time; it was nothing more than a sadistic game to him. The game was up now, and Castle hurried after his lady muse, hoping they weren't too late to save the day before the walls tumbled down. One way or another, play stopped here. This would be the end; all that remained now was to find out who had won.


	10. Chapter Nine: Knights to the Rescue

_(Hello all! I hope some of you out there are still interested, even if I have no excuses good enough for the length of time it has been between updates. Grading essays does not make up for fan fiction writing, but it does have to be done first! Here is the next installment – better late than never I hope… I still don't own them. Let me know what you think!)_

**The Walls Fall Down**

Chapter Nine: Knights to the Rescue

Girded at last with a place and a plan, Kate Beckett's team was heading into the dragon's lair. It was time for Tyson to reap what he had sown and to pay for the evil and pain he had gotten away with visiting on others. Seeing a quick moment before they set out, while Kate was briefing the tactical response team that would go in beside them and Ryan was checking all the equipment, Esposito stole down to the morgue to see Lanie. Granted, he really just wanted to see her before leaving, to steady himself in her face in a way he hated to even admit, but his excuse was that she would be wondering what had happened and deserved to be kept in the loop. She was part of their team too. No one else needed to know how her strength, capability, and cool intelligence grounded him in a way he couldn't quite grasp himself. Though she had a highly attractive, feisty spark in her that smoldered behind her deep, dark eyes and drew him in, she also had the amazing ability to remain quiet and calm when his fear or anger or frustration seemed most likely to bubble over and explode. They might finally be ready to rescue Castle's precious daughter – and he was more than ready to lay a smackdown on this monster who would hurt an innocent young girl, and had months before nearly taken his partner from him as well – but he needed to see Lanie for a moment first. He needed to be together and clear-headed when they went into this bust; there were so many ways it could go sideways instead of being the victory they were hoping for.

He knocked on the door twice before entering her quiet, cool, dimly-lit domain. She turned, a knowing smile in her sly-cat eyes that almost stopped him in his tracks, wondering – not for the first time – '_Does she know?' _ Shaking his head, and trying to tell himself it couldn't be, surely he wasn't that obvious, and clearing his throat to continue what he had been ready to tell her. "We're headed out – think we've got him this time," he said, voice rather husky with trying to conceal the emotion he feared he'd been showing.

"I knew that already, Javier," she replied cheekily, giving him a head shake as if she wondered what he was really up to. "Kate called me a minute ago."

"Oh, well then…" he shrugged, roaming around the sterilely clean, metallic-furnished room pretending to look at odd things instead of her as if it didn't matter, "I didn't know, and I figured you should know what was up."

He was halted in his progress around the room, however, when Lanie came around her autopsy table to stand before him. Looking up into his eyes, she reached out and caught hold of the 12th Precinct badge that he often wore on a lanyard around his neck. She pulled him toward her just the tiniest fraction and lowered her voice to what seemed a seductive murmur in his ears. "Thanks, Javi, I do appreciate being included – you never seem to forget, even if the others sometimes do…" She paused for a moment, like she had more to say, pursing the soft, pink lips that he found ridiculously tempting, as if debating whether to continue speaking or not. Then she added, "Why don't you do me one more favor though? Just make sure you get yourself back here in one piece, along with Alexis. Understood?"

He flashed her the fleeting hint of a quick, teasing grin, bright against his warm, tan skin and dark, determined eyes. "Yes, ma'am," he replied with a firm nod to her. Just before he turned on his heel to leave her and head back upstairs, he added a flirtatious wink and the promise, "I'll see you when we get back, Dr. Parrish. I don't think this conversation is quite finished."

Her eyes widened for a second, making him flush with pleasure at actually catching her off guard. Then she simply grinned evilly before responding, "You do that, Detective, because we certainly aren't finished."

CASTLE~~CASTLE~~CASTLE~~CASTLE~~CASTLE~~

A mere twenty minutes later, the SWAT team, led by Detectives Beckett, Ryan and Esposito, along with their resident mystery writer, were parked surrounding what seemed to be the likely site for Tyson to be holed up with Alexis. They were readying their weapons and preparing to split up so as to breach both entrances simultaneously and thwart any chance of escape, when Castle reached for his custom-made flak jacket and Kate Beckett caught his hand, giving him a peremptory shake of her head. "You're not going in this time, Castle," she stated, simply but firmly.

"What do you mean I'm not going in?" he questioned, disbelief and challenge both rising in his voice.

"Your daughter's in there," she explained quickly. "For obvious reasons, you're too emotionally invested to be smart in there. Besides, Jerry Tyson has an obvious personal vendetta against you. All of this could have been a trap to lure you in. You're staying out here. I can't try to save Alexis if half of my focus is being pulled to your safety."

He wanted badly to argue; she could see it in the quirk of his brow, the doubt in his eyes, and the exhaled breath he let out instead of the words he seemed to forcibly bite back. A moment of intense eye contact between them uttered volumes as the moment stretched to two, then three. Finally, he gave a silent nod, broke the look, and even took a step back, as if agreeing with her decision in action instead of words.

She finished her preparations, gave last orders to her people, and then signaled them to move out. Quickly, she hazarded one last glance back at Castle's face – a luxury she permitted herself too much for her own sanity lately – and was surprised by the trust and respect she found there. _"Bring her back to me,"_ his eyes pled silently, hope and belief shining in their hypnotic depths, _"and yourself too."_

Now she was the one to give a nod of assent without managing words, then she turned away quickly before he knocked her any more off kilter. _'Get Alexis,' _she repeated her objective to herself like a mantra as she went into motion. _'Manage that – then you can finally see what is there with him.' _By then, they had reached the door, and she thought only of her next move and threw herself into action.

CASTLE~~CASTLE~~CASTLE~~CASTLE~~CASTLE~~

Ryan and Esposito had led their team into the back of the abandoned building which – even in its former life – must have been a sorry excuse for a "home". Working like well-oiled machinery, a team that only time and deep understanding could form, they moved quickly, quietly, sweeping each empty room and moving on to the next down a dark, low-ceilinged hall. There was only one room left, and the two detectives exchanged a quick look before bursting in. They could hear on their ear radios that the other team with Beckett had come up empty as well, and they weren't sure what they would find in this last room left. It was hard to know which dread was worst: the fear of the condition they might find Alexis in, or the fear that they might hit another dead end and she wouldn't be behind the door at all.

Ryan gave him a hand signal, giving Esposito the go-ahead while letting him know he had his back. Esposito nodded in return and reached to turn the knob and push the door open. Unlike the other doors along this hall however, he met locked resistance from this entryway. Javier felt his heart rate quicken to jackhammer strength. This was it – not time to waste. Taking one step back, then powering forward, he kicked in the door and swept into the room – eyes alert and gun at the ready. His eyes covered the small space in seconds, sharp and cold as a bird of prey's, but they softened immediately to a gentler expression once he realized that all he saw within the space was a beat-up old mattress on which sat a very frightened but familiar-looking redhead.

"She's here!" he exclaimed needlessly to Ryan, who was right behind him and stepping forward to go to Castle's young daughter. "I'll radio Beckett," he added.

Ryan moved towards Alexis cautiously, noticing with quick concern that she did not give any sign of recognition, though he and Javier had both met her several times. She didn't even look up; her gaze was straight ahead and fuzzily unfocused. He walked to the edge of the mattress and crouched down to be on eye level with her. "Alexis?" he questioned, reaching out to tap her arm, hoping to break her out of the trance she seemed to be in. "Alexis, this is Kevin Ryan. Remember me? … Are you alright?"

She started at the contact with a gasp and tried to draw further away, even though she was already backed up against the grimy wall. She didn't speak, and she still didn't really seem to see him, or anything else around her. Her lip trembled and a single tear trekked down her pale, white cheek, but no other movement or response greeted his words.

"Jav," he said worriedly, getting his partner's attention as he turned to look over his shoulder into the former Ranger's eyes, "is she okay? What has he done to her?"

Esposito's eyes were dangerous dark and angry, clouded over with something Ryan couldn't quite define. The Hispanic detective's traditional, protective nature toward women and children especially seemed completely unable to accept whatever seemed to have been done to Alexis to put her in the state of shock she appeared to be suffering from. Ryan hated what this psycho had done to them all as well, but he truly feared what his partner might do if he got his bare hands on Tyson. Esposito only shook his head, "I don't know what's wrong, Kev. Let's just get her out of here."

Stooping to pick Castle's daughter up in his arms, Esposito wasn't looking when a shot rang out. Ryan whipped around, gun raised to cover them. Surprised, he realized that Tyson had materialized out of the small, dark closet in the room, where he had obviously been hiding and watching, rather than trying to escape, and enjoyed the havoc he'd wrecked.

"Go! Take her!" Ryan hissed to Esposito, who for once didn't argue or play tough guy and moved with Alexis out of harm's way. Turning, he bellowed "Drop it, Tyson!" as he put the Triple Killer in his sights.

Ignoring the order, Tyson got what seemed to be one more wild shot fired, before he fell dead with Ryan's bullet in his chest. All Kevin Ryan could feel was a draining of tension and fear as he hurried over to kick the gun from Tyson's hand and check for the pulse that he knew had fled. He was never happy to take a life, but he couldn't help being glad there would be no trial and chance of future release or parole; the Triple Killer had tortured his last victim, and New York was that much safer with him gone.

CASTLE~~CASTLE~~CASTLE~~CASTLE~~CASTLE~~

Ryan left the body to the rest of the team that was watching the hallway for any accomplices Tyson might have posted. Turning back, he hurried out of the room and back the way Esposito had gone to leave the wrecked old building. He was every bit as worried about Alexis as the rest of them, and he knew something was not right. She was either in shock, drugged, or more seriously injured than she had looked at first glance.

As he left the building, he could see the scene unfolding in front of him like something out of an action movie. Esposito seemed to be walking too slowly, or else he himself was going too fast, because he was rapidly catching up to his partner. Rick Castle was coming to meet them, from the moment he saw his daughter in Javier's arms there had been no holding him back. Ryan saw Beckett try since the perimeter was not yet secured. Then he saw her let Castle go, knowing that fight was one she would lose. Meeting in the middle, Castle took Alexis into his own arms, planting frantic kisses in her soft, auburn hair, trying to hold her as tight as he possibly could, whispering that she was okay, he was there, looking as if the weight of the world had finally stopped crushing him, even though she didn't respond. As Ryan and Kate reached them, Ryan's eyes were suddenly drawn from the Castles' emotional reunion to really see how pale his partner's usually ruddy complexion was. Esposito looked at him, meeting his eyes and holding them. Ryan reached a hand out, seeing that Esposito was sweating, and leaning forward as if weak or off-balance. Hoarsely, Esposito finally got out, "I'm hit…twice…" before sinking to one knee.

Ryan did not have long to marvel or wonder how Javier had continued to carry Alexis with two bullet in him. "Kate!" he burst out, interrupting her attempts to help Castle bring Alexis around. "Espo's hit! Tell me there's an ambulance en route!"

"They're already on their way," she answered, moving from Castle's side to Ryan's, her concern nearly as palpable as his. "Just hang in there, okay?" she added to Esposito, grit in her voice as if daring him to do otherwise.

Esposito nodded, but his eyes dropped closed and fought to reopen. Kevin Ryan couldn't help thinking that they had averted one tragedy and landed right at the bottom of another yawning cavern. Praying the ambulance hurried, he willed his partner to keep fighting. He _was not_ going to be the one delivering somber news to his fellow officer's family, and he could only hope he would not be the one going to morgue to explain to Lanie why Javier had come back himself… 


	11. Chapter Ten: Darkest Before Dawn

_(Despite all of my hopeful promises, I am absurdly late posting this again! I really don't mean to leave those of you that are reading and reviewing this hanging; I just can't seem to go any faster at present. Here is the next-to-last chapter; things are starting to be resolved, but there are still some lingering loose ends too. Please enjoy, and know that (of course) I still don't own them, no matter how much I wish I determined their storylines!)_

_**The Walls Fall Down**_

_Chapter Ten: Darkest Before Dawn_

Though thrilled beyond measure to have his darling only child back where he could watch over her, talk to her, and touch her to make sure she was really there and safe at last, Rick Castle couldn't help anxiously pacing across the hospital room to the door to peek into the hallway every few minutes. Kate was supposed to be bringing him updates, and it had been some time since he had heard anything. He hated that Esposito had been injured trying to help his daughter, hated that she still hadn't spoken and must have been through Hell and back, hated everything about this situation, but there was absolutely nothing he could do.

Watching the video of Tyson toying with him through Alexis had been horrifying enough, but Castle honestly couldn't let himself think for long on what might have happened to Alexis off-camera without becoming physically ill. Stopping his pacing near the door and coming back to the side of her bed again, the writer forced himself to sit and put out at least somewhat calm vibes. He reached out to run a loving, wistful hand over her vibrant, silky, red hair that he adored and to tuck it behind her ear like he had done at night when she was a child and he had just finished reading her to sleep.

"Alexis?" he whispered, hating that his voice sounded so tentative and scared, but finding that he was unable to change it much. He wanted to be encouraging, reassuring, for her – just in case she somehow was hearing him – but fighting against his own doubts and worries over her condition was proving to be an uphill battle. He was just searching his thoughts for something to say, something that might make her wake up and give him one of her dazzling smiles, and was telling her that Grams was on her way, when he heard soft footsteps behind him and turned to find Kate Beckett lingering in the doorway, looking on with both concern and something softer and more affectionate in her eyes. If he had been in the frame of mind to recognize it, Castle would have realized that it was the type of look he had been waiting to get from her for as long as he had known the guarded, enigmatic female detective – his muse. Instead, he merely shifted his gaze to her hopefully, needing some good news in the midst of all this not knowing.

At his open response, Kate Beckett stepped further into Alexis's room, and even reached out to pat the lump that was Alexis's foot under the blankets. "How is she, Castle?"

He found that voice of hers, low and husky, showing concern and care, but also control, as intoxicating as always, but grounding as well, giving him something to cling to in this mess that kept throwing him off balance.

"No change," he heard himself saying as if through cotton, or like someone else entirely was speaking for him. "Her doctor was in here briefly. He said that physically she's got a fractured cheekbone, and it will give her a fair amount of pain, but other than that it's cuts and bruises…nothing that won't heal. They did a …a…" Castle stumbled on the words, looked away from Kate to his daughter's still form again, and she jumped in to his rescue.

"A kit?" she supplied helpfully, mercifully leaving unsaid what kind of kit they both knew she meant.

Castle nodded, met her eyes again, swallowed hard, gulped in a large breath in the manner of a fish gasping out of water on the deck of a boat, and took the line she had thrown him. "Yes. Right. The results of the kit came back negative."

"Thank God," she whispered, touching his shoulder, then waiting patiently for him to continue.

"The doctor seems to think she may be in shock, or that she may have simply shut down as an emotional coping mechanism. She isn't comatose; there's no concussion; she isn't sleeping, but she _is _unresponsive. They're running a tox screen, to be certain he didn't inject her with something…" He trailed off, and his partner waited, not wanting to interrupt, but hoping to be there and comfort him if she could.

The early evening dusk washed over the world outside the hospital windows, and the NYPD detective couldn't help admiring the way it threw "her" writer's craggy, masculine profile half into shadow, even while it lit other planes of his face and the tips of his sandy, disheveled hair with a fading golden light. She would deny it until she ran out of breath, but in that moment, Kate Beckett wanted to grab him up, hold him to her, and kiss his pain away so badly that it created a physical ache in her chest. There was not much room within her for mushy romantic notions and fairy tale fluff, but she wanted to save the day for him just then. Knew that he would run into hell or high water to do the same for her.

It hadn't even register with her just how much time had passed in silence until she saw his face crumple in on itself, and he ducked his head to hide it as his shoulders shook. "We – we found her, Kate. It _ought _to be enough. Why can't she come back to me?"

In the space of an instant, she was kneeling before his chair, pulling him into her arms, guiding his head down to rest on her shoulder. "Rick…shh…it's okay. Alexis is okay. She _will _come back. Don't give up now." It became a low, soothing murmur of a mantra that she repeated, rubbing her palm over his back as she did. There was no way this couldn't be the truth; it was unfathomable, and she _would not _allow it.

Sadly, they had rescued the princess, but none of them were out of the woods yet. With that somber thought in her mind, she also realized that Castle was in her arms at last, but in nothing like the way she had hoped.

CASTLE~~CASTLE~~CASTLE~~CASTLE~~CASTLE~~CASTLE

Javier Esposito's face was as cold and motionless as stone when Lanie was finally allowed in to see him and sit with him. She found herself more discomforted by the usually warm and vibrant man's quiet stillness than she had any understandable right to be; she was after all someone who spent the majority of her days examining the forever-silenced victims of violent crime. Still, there was no denying the shock that the sight of her favorite detective, as she often secretly thought of him to herself, lying there in that bed without a smart aleck remark or jibe at her worry, bandaged and hooked up to machines. In truth, Lanie wanted nothing more than to either grab his shoulders and shake him back into consciousness, or smack him for being so stupidly reckless before she kissed him senseless for being so irresistibly heroic. She was a mess; this whole situation was, and he should be awake sweating this out with her, not lying there giving her heart palpitations.

Ryan, who had met her in the waiting room and directed her this room, squeezed her shoulder encouragingly for a moment, nudged her forward slightly, and then slipped out, obviously sensing that she needed a second alone with his injured partner. According to what both Kevin and Kate had told her, Esposito was expected to make a full recovery, but they had sedated him in order to keep him from moving around and aggravating either of the bullets' entry and exit wounds, and until he was built up again from the blood loss. She shook her head at the mental image of him fighting with doctors and EMTs alike, trying to convince them that he was alright, he could get up, check himself out of the hospital and get back into the fray.

By now, she had reached the side of the bed, and she couldn't help reaching out a gentle hand to smooth over his forehead and down his cheek. "You just take it easy for awhile, Javi," she murmured in what she hoped was a soothing tone. "I think you've earned it."

With that, she pulled a chair up to the bedside and prepared to wait until he opened those deep, luscious eyes and smiled at her again. Sure, there had been plenty of times when she had wished he would lay off the charm and stop turning those sinfully melting looks in her direction, nearly convincing her to do anything he wished. Now, though, she wouldn't have cared what he wanted or how he pled his case; she would give anything to see into the depths of his chocolate eyes and let him beguile her with a glance.

Stroking her hand along his well-muscled bicep and down his arm, before eventually covering his still motionless hand with her own, Lanie felt she had to get something out in the open between them, whether he heard her somewhere in his unconscious or not.

"Javier Esposito…" she began haltingly, then forced herself to put all of the spark and determination she normally spoke with into her voice for him to hear. "Let's just get one thing straight right now. I know we've never really talked about what's going on between us. Maybe there's nothing between us but flirting and jokes…" She forced a deep breath and blew it out in frustration, knowing that the last bit wasn't true and wondering why she was being such a coward when he wasn't even awake and listening. "I think we both know there _is _something here though, and we dance around it because neither of us wants to be hurt, or to hurt the other one. Well, no more. You hearin' me, Detective? We are gonna take a chance, see where this chemistry of ours leads us, before…before you do some other fool thing…and…and it's too late."

She kept it together and sounded like the tough, no-nonsense medical examiner she always showed everyone until that last thought escaped out loud. She had almost lost him, before ever really telling him how she felt, and it was more than she could bear. He was going to know, just as soon as he woke up.

Wiping away the couple of rogue tears that had escaped down her cheeks, Lanie sniffled, then had to chuckle at herself, even as was crying at his bedside like some pathetic sap in some overblown chick flick. The tears were winning, and she hated them for it as she trying to wipe them away quickly while still clinging to his hand. It was then, to her surprise that his hand twitched in hers. She stared for a moment, at their fingers interlaced on the white sheets, then startled again as she glanced up to see his eyes open and looking apologetically at her.

Javier raised his hand, still holding her tightly, and gingerly wiped the last couple tears from her cheeks with the pad of his thumb. He gave her a hopeful half-smile and raspily whispered, "Hush, Querida, I'm right here."

She nodded at his words and leaned in to smile at him, but the tears seemed to flow more freely with her smile. He couldn't help a gentle grin, knowing she had to hate that she was crying over him, even though he was more touched than he could say and wouldn't begin to give her grief about it. He used the functioning arm that was bandaged and out of commission to pull her to his chest and hold onto her. "Please, Lain. Don't cry, okay? It's going to be alright."

It felt so good to know they had Alexis back, know that he was still alive, that Lanie obviously cared for him, and told lay there with her in his arms, that Javier Esposito drifted right back off into healing sleep, hardly caring anymore that it had taking two bullets to get him to where he was.


	12. Chapter Eleven: The Princess Awakes

_(I always hope to be quicker at updating, but I've had trouble with that on this one. Here's another update though, and I hope you're still interested. This story is winding down, but there's still one more, if not two chapters to go. Let me know what you think! I still don't own them!)_

The Walls Fall Down

Chapter Eleven: The Princess Awakes

Alexis Castle was lost in a bleary half-waking, half-sleeping world of hazy nightmare visions and disconnected voices calling to her from somewhere beyond her reach. If she had been conscious enough to move, she would have been tossing and turning, writhing away from the slimy sense of Tyson's hands grabbing for her still, and the heat of his breath in her face, telling her just what he planned to do to her dad, her Grams, to everyone she cared about, once he was finished with her. At some point in the jumble of reality and induced slumber, she had come to believe that her terrible monster, this man with a jagged dragon-smile had already gotten to them, that she was alone in the world and had nothing and no one to wake up for.

Her father, still unable to let her out of his sight – even to sleep or go home for a shave and change of clothes – thought that he occasionally saw a thoughtful crinkle flit across her brow before it disappeared, as if she were considering waking up. He simply could not know what horrific images were playing behind her eyelids, and it was better that he didn't. Rick Castle was already blaming himself for her ordeal without yet knowing the fears that Tyson had purposely induced. Instead, he merely continued to whisper his daughter's name ever so often, smooth a warm, gentle hand over her forehead as if to soothe all possible troubles away.

Beckett had come and gone twice more; once to beg him to come to the hospital cafeteria with her and get something to eat before he fell over, and again to tell him that Esposito was awake and apparently on the way to making a full recovery. Castle had refused to leave his daughter's side, but hearing that the other detective was going to be alright had taken a huge secondary weight off of his shoulders. His flamboyant mother had charged in too, as soon as she had been allowed in the room, fussing over her granddaughter, putting and gift shop bouquet beside the bed, opening the blinds to let in sunshine, and asking him every five minutes if the doctors should be checking in more often and if Alexis ought to be waking up by then. Though Rick loved his mother's eccentricity and vibrance, and normally found her babble and dramatics entertaining, he had been near the point of snapping when she had seemed to deflate and sunk into the chair beside him.

There was a sudden vulnerability in her eyes that he hadn't seen since she had shown up on his doorstep, bankrupt and abandoned, five years ago, and she had moved into the loft while she attempted to get back on her feet. "We're lucky we got her back at all, aren't we, Kiddo?" she asked finally.

He tried to answer 'yes', but even that single word stuck in his throat. He nodded soundlessly, blindsided again by the fear, anger, flagging adrenaline, sleeplessness… and how close they had come. His princess had nearly paid for his perceived sins with her innocent life.

"But she _will _be alright, Richard," Martha spoke determinedly, eyes bright with unshed tears, and a firm set to her jaw as she nodded to emphasize her words. "You do know that don't you?"

He didn't answer out loud, and she nudged his elbow, giving him a playful smile and wink as she did, "She is _my _granddaughter, after all…"

Cast le gave her a grateful nod, eyes carrying just the hint of a smile for the first time in days as he reached out to put an arm around her to hug her to his side. "Of course," he agreed softly in her ear.

It hadn't been long after that, about the time he had noticed the clock on the far wall edging towards three o'clock in the morning that he had known his mother was asleep leaning on his shoulder, and that the whole room seemed to become a quiet, dark island – a world unto itself as he watched Alexis lying there, so still and silent, safe but still not home where she belonged…

CASTLE~~CASTLE~~CASTLE~~CASTLE~~CASTLE~~CASTLE~~CASTLE

That was how Kate Beckett found them two hours later, when she returned at five a.m., hoping to find a change in Alexis before she went into work at the precinct. She came bearing good coffee, as Rick had so often done for her, but the sight of him sitting straight upright, beyond needing or wanting rest, tore at her heart. He obviously needed much more than caffeine, if only she knew what to do, what she could give him.

Kate was excellent with the friends and families of deceased victims that she saw every day. She knew how to break the worst positive news in the least horrendous way possible, because she had never forgotten being in their place herself. However, when it came to offering hope and cheer, she struggled significantly. In some ways, she simply didn't have hope to give – that optimism was more in Castle's department. Her hope and illusions had been shattered long ago. True, she could experience happiness and laughter, and she was a warm and giving person once she decided to open up. Still, she also knew better than most people how fragile and fleeting happiness could be. She couldn't give out false hope; even if she knew someone desperately needed it to cling to. Kate wanted to throw Castle a lifeline, but somehow found herself floundering.

He had heard the door open, and turned to see her tiptoeing in. She gave him a tentative smile, holding out the macchiato that she had brought along for him. The thoughtlessly tender, unguarded look he sent her way nearly undid her, sending her heart pounding at the thought of seeing such pure, genuine affection at day's beginning. What would it be like to wake up to him – tousled hair, roguish smile, boyish eyes, and a chance to catch him before his legendary wit was fully at the ready? She couldn't help the thought, though it quickly skittered away again into her subconscious mind. Still, it had been there and it nearly took her breath away. Would she ever get to find out?

"Any change?" she whispered hopefully, firmly placing her concern for Alexis back in the forefront where it belonged.

Rick shook his head dejectedly, and stood, gently repositioning the still sleeping Martha so that she could stretch over both seats, and tucking his suit jacket back around her shoulders again. She felt a sympathetic twinge when he winced trying to stretch the cricks out of his necks and back. She had been through enough stakeouts in her patrol car to know exactly what his pinched muscles must be feeling like.

"I brought you a change of clothes too," she whispered, handing him the duffle bag she had in her other hand. "Take a minute and wash up," she indicated the restroom, "I'm early. I'll stay right here with her until you come back. I promise."

He graced her with another smile. It was subdued and wistful rather than the unbridled playful grin she had grown to expect, but she was startled again when, as he brushed by her on his way past, he touched her shoulder, let the lightest feather brush of his lips ghost over her cheek, and he whispered in her ear, "Thank you."

His action was so brief, so simple, that she momentarily wondered if she had imagined it as the door closed behind him. She knew it had happened though, and she clung to the knowledge that whatever had been brewing between them had not been lost or forgotten as she moved closer to the side of Alexis's bed. The redhead looked peaceful for the moment - as if she were only exhausted and resting with pleasant dreams. Rick had told her it sometimes appeared that Alexis was having nightmares, though he didn't know if that was truly possible. None of that showed on his daughter's face now though. She patted Alexis's hand where it lay on top of the crisp, white sheet. "You'd better wake up and talk to your dad soon, Sweetie," Kate murmured softly, as if it were a funny little secret between the two of them. "I don't know how much longer he can wait to see your smiling face."

To Kate's surprise, Alexis's golf-flecked eyelashes fluttered at the sound of her voice, and suddenly the teen's eyes were open at last and staring at her fearfully. "W-Where's my dad?" she managed, looking troubled and confused. "I-Is it…true?" She swallowed in the midst of her statement then hesitated before seeming to force herself to continue. "Is he…? Did Tyson get him?"

Kate's words tumbled over each other as she hurried to reassure Alexis. "No, Alexis, No…He's okay…Just worried about you." The detective was taken aback by the first reaction Alexis had shown and made a mental note to find out later why the teenage had been so quick to think that Castle had become a victim, though she already had her suspicions. Tyson's sick vendetta was still causing damage even though he was gone. "He only stepped into the bathroom to change. He's right here."

Alexis's breathing noticeably calmed, and she drew her first real, deep breath. She looked up at Kate rather shamefacedly, and it made the detective want to cry too when she saw a silent tear leak from the corner of the girl's eye and down the side of her face. "Detective Beckett, sorry I overreacted, but I need to see him for myself…Can you get him for me? Please?"

Shaking herself back to her senses, Kate mentally kicked herself for not doing that already. She smiled at Alexis kindly. "Of course I will." She turned and hurried over to knock on the bathroom door. "Castle? Come out here! Hurry!" she called.

The door jerked open in the next instant, and she came face to dripping-wet face with Rick so suddenly that he nearly bowled her over. His hair stood on end, his face was half-shaved, and his dress shirt was buttoned wrong in haste, making it hang crooked. "What? What happened? Is she okay?"

Kate laid a hand on his bicep, giving him a smile. "She's awake, Rick."

The look that crossed his face was priceless. It was all he had needed or prayed to hear for the last 48 hours. She watched as Castle hurried to his daughter's side – overjoyed – leaning down to kiss her forehead and gather her into a hug as best as he could around monitors, IVs, and wires. Kate wasn't troubled that neither of them even noticed when she had to slip out and leave for work. Father and daughter were reunited and had no need of anyone else in their own little world just then. It was more than enough for her to steal one more glance back over her shoulder and see the relief on Castle's face. Her heart warmed at the thought that at last the evil spell which had settled over her partner seemed to be broken.


	13. Chapter Twelve: The Knight and His Lady

_(Hello everyone! I know it's been an inexcusably long time since I've updated this story, and I really hope those who were reading haven't given up on it. The good news is, I have this chapter AND the epilogue to post at once! I hope that everyone will enjoy the conclusion and would love to hear what you think when you're done reading. I still don't own them and am just borrowing their fictional likenesses…)_

The Walls Fall Down

Chapter Twelve: The Knight and His Lady

It was the next evening before Kate saw even a trace of Castle again. Not that she was surprised; she had figured that he would stay home for awhile to make sure that Alexis was weathering the aftereffects of her ordeal successfully and that she didn't need him. In fact, Kate was actually surprised when he turned up at all that evening, though secretly she felt her heartbeat thrill to his presence and knew it was too quiet there at the precinct without him. She had missed his input and company even though she was only lingering to finish up and file the case's paperwork. Though she had always prided herself on her ability to work alone, and to still see things on her murder board that others missed, she had long ago admitted – if only to herself – that she had gotten used to bouncing her ideas off of him, hearing his voice in her ear, having his solid, assuring presence at her elbow, just in case she wanted him. They made each other better, and to be honest, it would be boring and more than a little sad to ever have to go back to doing her job without him.

As Rick walked up to the side of her desk, looking down at her before sinking gratefully into his familiar chair, Kate gave him a welcoming smile, while trying to speak casually without a hint of the butterflies that seemed to accompany his arrival. "Hey, Castle. How's Alexis?" she asked, true concern for the teen, as well as her father contained within the question.

"She isn't sleeping very well," he said darkly, a deep furrow between his brows, "but then I can't say I would blame her for having a few nightmares – considering…"

Kate nodded her agreement, but didn't speak, somehow sensing that he had more yet to say.

"The cuts and bruises are already fading though. The physical hurts are almost gone… but it's clear that was never where Tyson did his real damage."

"It never is when someone really wants to cause lasting pain," Kate answered sadly, memories taking her back to just why she knew so well those words were true.

Now it was Castle who said nothing, but he smiled at her, as if giving her a thank you for her understanding. It wasn't the broad, rakish grin she had come to adore, but it did give his face its accustomed warmth, which she was grateful to see again.

"Come on, Castle," she enjoined, standing with the last of the files in her hand, and nudging her chair back under the desk with her hip. "I'm finished, and I was going to see if Lanie wanted to get a late supper. Wanna join?"

He seemed unsure for a moment, glancing at his cell, and she easily guessed that it made him anxious to leave Alexis, or even let her out of his sight, for any period of time so soon after nearly losing her. In fact, Kate wondered suddenly if his daughter had shooed him off in order to have a moment's breather from him fussing over her. Probably not, the teenager probably needed her dad as much as he needed her, but the thought still caused an inner chuckle to cross the detective's mind. After the glance at his phone though, Castle's shoulders seemed to relax. He smiled at her again, offered to carry the files for her, and then answered, "Sure, I'd love to. I'm being silly, trying to be right next to Alexis every second. Mother's there anyway – if she would need something."

She nodded her encouragement to his little self-pep talk, and they headed for the elevator, falling into step and their arms lightly brushing as they walked closely. Kate could not help but wonder if he had been missing his proximity to her as well, and she went to hazard a look at his profile, only to come up against his questioning gaze, obviously trying to surreptitiously study her as well. Both writer and his muse quickly turned their eyes forward again, and the ride in the elevator suddenly turned awkward with unasked questions.

Kate knew that she wanted – and was at last truly ready – to pursue whatever attraction and pull had always been between herself and Castle. She had always known she was the hold-out, and she had never expected to find herself debating whether Castle was ready or inclined for them to test the romantic waters. And yet, here she was. She didn't want to rush him; they had all been through a tense, terrifying event. Alexis was the most important person in Rick's life. It had always been obvious to the detective that Castle's daughter was the number one woman in his heart, and she loved that about him. That was as it should be. Never would she want to seem insensitive of that.

And yet…they had been _so_ close…As they had searched for Alexis frantically, as he had needed her like never before, and as she had come to realize how she couldn't see him ruined and changed, they had almost burst through the last barrier to taking the leap. It had finally seemed that were both going to stop circling each other, admit their feelings, and do something about them. Then, they had succeeded in their rescue, adrenaline had died back down, and Kate Beckett feared they were in danger of settling and returning to the safe status quo between them. If they went back to ignoring the obvious chemistry, would they ever get to that point another time? Would they ever find out what might be between them?

The elevator dinged as it reached the lower level of the precinct; the doors started to slide open, and Kate was just about to hit the button to keep the door closed and grab him and kiss him or blurt out her fears in desperation, when Castle suddenly spoke up first.

"So, how is the good Dr. Parrish?" He began conversationally, following her out of the elevator and across the hall to the entrance of the morgue. "Are she and Esposito…?"

He never finished the sentence however, for as they walked through the doors into the morgue, the words died on his tongue. He and Kate froze in stunned surprise, and so did Lanie Parrish and Javier Esposito – frozen in what could only be described as the epitome of a "compromising position."

The detective had his long-lusted-after lady pushed up against her currently empty autopsy table, and Lanie had her hands under his half-lifted off shirt. To say Castle and Beckett had interrupted them finally getting caught up in the clutch of passion would have been the world's largest understatement. No one spoke or moved for a solid minute, and then it was Lanie who acted first.

She lowered herself from the tiptoe position where Esposito had clearly been about to lift her onto the stainless steel surface behind her. Putting her small hands on the detective's broad shoulders, the M.E. firmly moved him back from her. A second's expression of hurt flickered across Esposito's face, but he covered it as quickly as it had appeared and stepped away to straighten his shirt and tuck it back in, taking in a steadying breath as he did.

Lanie became unflappable, no-nonsense Dr. Parrish again, as quickly and fully as if a screen had pulled down over the rapturous expression that had been blooming across her face when they walked in. "What have you got for me?" she asked Beckett pointedly, all business and giving away nothing in her tone, not sparing a look for Castle at all, knowing the mischievous glee he would be showing at her expense already.

"Lanie, we can come back later if…" Kate started, just as Castle spoke up at the same time,"We didn't mean to interrupt your…"

She cleared her throat and arched an eyebrow in warning at Castle, making his mouth snap shut before he finished his thought. "It's no problem," she said with definite emphasis. "Now, what can I do for you?"

Javier looked as if he wanted to be anywhere but where he currently stood, yet he stayed there in the background, avoiding everyone's eyes and running a restless hand backwards over his buzzed scalp and shifting his weight from side to side anxiously.

"Sorry to disappoint you," Kate said, just as evenly, getting quite a kick out of her friend's embarrassment after all the teasing and prodding Lanie had given her concerning Castle. "We don't have a body or anything. We were just going to see if you wanted to grab a late supper with us."

Lanie knew not to push her luck and let Kate or Castle linger long enough for either of them to burst out laughing or start teasing. She was annoyed with herself more than anyone for getting carried away here, where she worked, and for getting caught, but more than that, she was angry for being so bitterly disappointed that she and Javier had been interrupted. She wanted to pretend that it was just a fling, that they were just relieving stress, giving into the magnetic pull they had always felt between them, but one kiss had been the point of no return. As soon as he had touched her, and his mouth had found hers, she had known that she was done for and been angry with him too, for exposing her weakness. Letting those feelings in was what got people hurt; she was not going to be a heartbroken police widow someday when Esposito and Ryan pushed something too far or took some crazy risk and paid with their lives. She had told herself that all along: that if she ever gave in to him, she had to keep it purely physical and on the surface. It was why she had pushed him away so coldly when they had been caught; her wits had finally returned to her. "No, thanks, I've already eaten."

"Okay," Kate shrugged and turned to leave, pulling Castle with her. She glanced back over her shoulder and waggled her eyebrows suggestively while saying that she would call Lanie later. Beckett wanted to give Javier an encouraging wink or smile; she had seen that he had it bad for Lanie ages ago, before he had even picked up on it himself. She only hoped their little interruption hadn't pushed the pair back out of each other's arms again.

As they pushed through the door, Kate stopped pulling Castle, and instead cautiously and hopefully slid her hand down his arm to twine her fingers with his. "Come on, Castle," she said, breath catching slightly, then escaping in relief as he smiled and warmly squeezed the hand she had placed in his. "Let's get out of here."

Meanwhile, as the door swung closed and they were left alone again, Lanie turned worriedly to face Javier. She could tell by the ominous storm clouding his brow darkly that he was annoyed with her behavior in front of their colleagues. He didn't speak, but the look he was leveling at her said it all. He thought she was ashamed and treating him like a booty call, and she didn't know if she had the words to explain otherwise to him. Couldn't a girl just cherish something new that made her happy without having to try to explain it to nosey friends?

"Javi," she started to say in what she hoped was a placating voice. She wasn't above wheedling or pleading if it would make him feel better _and_ get him kissing her again… She let herself pout just a bit, looking as him from under lowered eyelids, and began to say more, but before she could, he lunged forward and was on her, trapping her in his arms. The muscles in his forearms encircled her like steel bands, and though she tried half-heartedly to wriggle away from the fire radiating off of him, she was intrigued enough not to fight too hard. "I mean, it's not – it's just…"

But she trailed off when he covered her mouth with two callused fingers, stopping any further explanations before she could get them out. "No, forget it, chica. No more talk. Let me do the talking."

He forced her backwards, conveniently against the door so that no one else unexpected could interrupt them again. Dipping his head quickly, he leaned in to capture her lips, stealing her kiss like a thief and not slackening or loosening his grip on her for a second.

She made a low whine deep in the back of her throat, half in pleasure and half in frustration, wanting to run her hands up his muscled back and over his stubbled cheeks, but he wouldn't let her free. When he pulled back a fraction for breath, he gritted out, "Not this time. I'm not letting you escape – I've waited too long."

Finally, she gave in, closed her eyes, and gave herself up to the sensations he was evoking. It wasn't worth fighting him when he was giving her what she wanted anyway, but she made a note to let him know she could not just be manhandled when he wanted his way. They _had_ waited a long time though; he had taken a bullet before they had both finally woken up and taken a risk. Why should she stop him now?

A little of her melted inside as he kissed her even more insistently. Trapped in the exquisite cage of his arms, she finally let herself be engulfed in flames.


	14. Epilogue: Happily Ever After

_(Here we are at last! I think I have finally finished this story. Those who have stuck with this one as I've had to take long breaks and then come back to it, I hope you all are pleased with the way it's turned out for our beloved characters. I tried to keep it realistic and believable, as while as having both some drama and fluffiness. Let me know what you think; I always love to know what works or what could make a story better. Thanks for reading! Enjoy!_

_**The Walls Fall Down**_

_Epilogue: And They All Lived Happily Ever After_

_Five Months Later…_

The April morning sun was filtering in warmly on what looked to be turning into a beautiful spring day as Alexis Castle drowsily blinked her eyes and woke. It was one of the first mornings she had not jerked awake, gasping for breath on the heels of a nightmare, or else woken at the crack of dawn in tears, knowing she had dreamed of Tyson and the horrors he had promised were coming and then couldn't go back to sleep. She had spent weeks stumbling through a hazy, nightmarish fog with dark circles under her eyes, terrifying her dad and making both he and her grandmother fear she might never be the same again. Yet slowly, time, talking about it, and even a few sessions with Beckett's department psychologist, whom the detective had recommended, had begun to help her heal.

Languidly, luxuriantly, she stretched her limbs under the sheets, then sat up and tossed her glossy fan of red hair over her shoulder, oblivious to how it gleamed when caught in the early morning sunlight. She was still restless, but it was certainly a more peaceful, easy feeling on this bright morning. In fact, she felt it might be as simple as wandering out into the kitchen to see what kind of pancakes her dad might be concocting today.

Reaching for the brush that sat on the nightstand, Alexis ran it through the length of her hair and then gathered her tresses up to put them in a ponytail. She managed to allow only a brief shudder at the memory of feeling a monster running his coarse fingers through it. She had been sure he was about to take a knife or scissors and hack it all off before he killed her. There had been many times that the flashback sensation had been enough to reduce her to a helpless puddle of jell-o nerves, gasping for air through sheer panic_. "Baby steps,"_ she whispered to herself encouragingly, _"you're making progress."_

As she padded barefoot out into the open family room and felt her feet touch the cool, polished wood floor, she could see her dad humming distractedly as he stirred a bowl of pancake batter just as expected, a towel slung over one shoulder. He had dashes of flour on his cheek and across his forehead, and as Alexis moved toward him, she couldn't stop the overflow of gratitude for her adorable, ridiculous, lovable father. He looked up and saw her just as she drew near enough to wrap her arms around him in a hug and wipe the excess flour off of his face.

"Morning, my beautiful baby," he greeted cheerfully, leaning over to kiss the tip of her nose. "How are you today?" His tone was light and normal, but there was genuine empathetic concern behind his words. He had been hurting for her all the time she had been suffering through the aftermath of her abduction, and he wanted nothing more than to see that his "little" girl was happy and whole again. He looked at her, impish grin on his face as he announced, "Guess what masterpiece of pastry perfection I've created now?"

She smiled indulgently, feeling her tentative good mood take hold and blossom as she seated herself across from him on one of the tall kitchen stools. "It will be a wonderful surprise as long as you promise that you haven't given 'S'morelettes' a second try," she assured him teasingly.

Rick Castle allowed a horrified look of mock offense and hurt to cross his face. He shook his head at her, acting as though he couldn't believe her poor taste. "S'morelettes were delicious," he remarked archly. "You just don't recognize good food when you taste it."

She gave him a doubtful look and pursed her lips as if trying to come up with the right zinger to lob back at him, but he plowed right ahead, eyes twinkling at his daughter before she could best him.

"But, no, to your great relief, they are not 'S'morelettes'," he added. "These are Strawberry-Banana Waffles."

Alexis brightened at his words, as Castle had known she would; his daughter had harbored a weakness for anything strawberry-flavored since she had been only knee-high. "Why, that sounds almost startlingly normal for you to be cooking," she teased lovingly.

"Yes, well, anything to please my only child," he replied, feigning a still-joking manner, but his words were actual truth – he had planned breakfast with the solitary goal of making her smile. He studied Alexis carefully after serving her waffles hot off the iron and passing her the syrup. She dug into her food as if her appetite was finally returning for good. The cloud that had lingered over her fitfully since late November seemed largely dissipated this morning, and her eyes were no longer haunted by a smile she was only pasting on for his benefit.

His mother soon swept into the room in her silk dressing gown, regaling them with the story of one of her acting students securing a part that could make his beginning stage reputation. She bestowed a hug and a kiss on the cheek to her son as well as her granddaughter and swept back up the stairs of the loft, calling back over her shoulder that the teacher now had an audition of her own to get ready for.

Castle chuckled after his flamboyant mother's retreating figure. Though they took the wind out of each other's sails and teased each other mercilessly to make sure that no one's ego grew too inflated, Castle loved his eccentric mother beyond measure. Though if asked he would deny it, he was glad to have her in his home – where he could both look out for her and benefit from her ever-effusive, cheering mood. Alexis caught his eyes again, giving him a look that told him she guessed – or simply knew – everything he had just been thinking.

"Your grandmother is quite a unique lady, isn't she?" he offered innocently.

Alexis narrowed her eyes in seriousness, sizing him up. "She's not the only one," she answered rather cryptically.

"What's that?" he asked, knowing very well where she was headed, though he tried to play dumb.

"Detective Beckett," Alexis pursued. "Don't think I can't tell that something has been different with you two ever since you found me. You guys took a step forward and it didn't work, or you almost did and then backed out. Something happened. You seem even more anxious waiting for her to call with a case – almost like you're afraid she won't – and yet, once she does call, you go all awkward and quiet. That's not the way you usually operate, Dad. So, what's going on?"

He sighed, looking at her lovingly for a moment as he formed his answer. He knew his opinion was quite biased, but he really did have a brilliant, perceptive daughter. She was absolutely right; he and Kate had almost acknowledged the crackling tension between them and done something about it. He had promised himself that once they found Alexis, and he finally knew that she was going to be alright, he was going to lay his feelings all out for Beckett, even if he risked her turning him away, or out of her life forever. And yet here he sat weeks later, with nothing to show for all of his promises and plans, and the very real dread that the status quo between himself and his muse would remain unchanged and that he would never have the chance to finally hold the detective he adored in his arms. Alexis was still staring him down, awaiting his answer, and Castle knew that only the truth would work. "Honey, it's just – I don't know…"

She broke into his stuttering with laughter that did them both good. "You've always told me that I deserve the best, right, Dad?" she urged. "Well, the same applies for you. Stop using me as your excuse! Be the daring, charming, relentless star you always have been and _go get her_ already! What are you waiting for?"

Without another word, she handed him his cell phone from the counter, her look brooking no further arguments, and then dove back into her waffles, pretending to be offering him some privacy.

Castle's mouth hung open wordlessly, flummoxed for a second or two, then he snapped it shut, squared his shoulders, and prepared to dial. His daughter was right; there were no more reasons to hold back. He didn't stand to lose more than he already was by doing nothing, and he had everything to gain. Putting the phone to his ear, he listened as it rang, waiting for Kate's lovely voice to pick up on the other end of the line.

CASTLE – CASTLE – CASTLE – CASTLE – CASTLE – CASTLE 

That very evening, Kate Beckett looked up from the last of her paperwork to the sound of footsteps hurrying towards her over the precinct's recently waxed floor. She smiled broadly on the inside, but allowed only an outer smirk at his obvious eagerness. She was more relieved than she wanted to reveal that he had called, and that maybe they were finally going to put the suspense to rest and go out on a date.

Glancing up to meet his gaze as he came to a stop at the corner of her desk, Kate told herself to be casual, keep things normal, even though her heart fluttered nervously, "Thanks again for treating on dinner the other night," she greeted as normally as she usually would. She kept her voice steady and was surprised that she managed not to betray the somersaults turning in her stomach.

His eyes twinkled pleasantly when he shrugged it off, saying he had been glad to. She spared just a moment to reflect that the twinkle in his eyes – that unabashed joy she had always assumed only children, and possibly Santa Claus, truly had – was far and away her favorite feature of his. This was a dark job at times, and she knew all too well that she could let herself become overly serious. Castle's goodness and light were something she had needed without even knowing she did until he had walked into her precinct and begun shadowing her.

"Are you ready?" he asked curiously, studying the surface of her desk as if deciphering whether he thought she was still busy or not. "If something came up, I can always take a rain check."

"No, no," she stood quickly, as if to emphasize her point to him. "This can wait." She paused, wetting her lips, and then made herself voice the rest of her thought. "I've been looking forward to this all day."

"Well, I guarantee this outing will _not _disappoint," he returned, his smile growing even broader to crinkle the edges of his eyes at her honest admission. He fetched her blazer off the coat rack in the corner and came up close behind her to help her into it, easing it over her shoulders and letting his hands linger a bit longer than they had to.

Kate turned, standing so close to him that she could have stood on her tiptoes just the tiniest bit and kissed him. A part of her was powerfully tempted, but she held back – partially not wanting to make things awkward or rushed, and partially wanting him to make the move, so she would know that he wanted the same thing. However, she told herself right then that if he hadn't kissed her by the end of the night, she might take matters into her own hands after all. Still, all she said was, "So, Castle," as she leisurely took his arm while they started toward the elevator, "just where are we going tonight?"

"The Rialto," he answered, clearly excited and confident in his plan. "There's a Bogart double feature – _The Maltese Falcon _and _The Big Sleep_."

"Okay, a smart, slick, and irresistible detective solving crimes and putting away the bad guys…sounds very familiar…" she teased, goading him to banter with her.

"Indeed," Castle smirked, "it's a character you should know very well."

She nodded sagely, as if in total agreement with him. Then she looked to him again, playfully batting her eyelashes. "Will you buy me popcorn?"

His warm, hypnotic eyes locked on hers, pulling her in and making his fuller meaning clear as he answered, leaning in so close that their noses almost brushed. "Anything you want…" he assured her as the elevator doors slid closed.


End file.
